Many of Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to prominent universities and academics, which he maintained through monetary donations and luxury gifts, have been known since his 2019 arrest and suicide in a Manhattan jail cell. After the US Justice Department published 3 million new documents related to criminal investigations of the late sex trafficker last month, however, it became clear that his influence in higher education was far more sweeping.
As a result of email exchanges included in this new tranche of files, several professors and university administrators have found themselves publicly associated with Epstein for the first time, and caught in a maelstrom of angry students, alumni, and colleagues.
Merely appearing in files doesn’t implicate someone in any alleged criminality, but the turmoil over these interactions has touched all manner of campuses, from small arts schools to major public universities and the Ivy League. The faculty members who cultivated relationships with Epstein, suddenly called to account, have largely insisted that they only saw him as a deep-pocketed donor only inviting further controversy over the financial ethics of US academia.
Read more at Wired.
