The Catch Up

Botstein Steps Down


Listen Later

Leon Botstein is leaving Bard. After almost 51 years as president, he announced his retirement one day after the board got WilmerHale's review of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Walter Mullin and Daily Catch editor Emily Sachar talk through what the report says, what Botstein had told the public before, and why those two stories no longer match.

The report includes a line Botstein gave investigators that the board chose to highlight: "I would take money from Satan if it permitted me to do God's work." It also says he visited Epstein's townhouse 25 times, made a two-day trip to Little St. James, and was around women later identified as Epstein's victims. The Daily Catch had already reported on the 2013 helicopter visit to Bard, when Epstein arrived with several young women and Botstein walked them around campus.
Emily walks through what the board did and did not know, including the 2014 Leon Black donation that came at Epstein's direction. She talks about the senior faculty member who warned Botstein off, the level three sex offender designation that anyone could have looked up in 2012, and the consulting fees Botstein took from an Epstein entity in 2016. She and Walter weigh the Bard that Botstein built against the choices he made, and look at what comes next: an interim leader, a national search, and whatever role Leon Botstein still holds at the college he ran for half a century.

Produced by Emily Sachar, Walter Mullin, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud at the Radio Free Rhinecilff studio

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The Catch UpBy Radio Free Rhinecliff

  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5

5

6 ratings


More shows like The Catch Up

View all
Stuff You Should Know by iHeartPodcasts

Stuff You Should Know

78,700 Listeners

Criminal by Vox Media Podcast Network

Criminal

37,687 Listeners

The Back Room with Andy Ostroy by Produced by RFR and Andy Ostroy

The Back Room with Andy Ostroy

209 Listeners

The Rhinebeck Scoop by Radio Free Rhinecliff

The Rhinebeck Scoop

13 Listeners

Correct me if I'm Norm by Radio Free Rhinecliff

Correct me if I'm Norm

8 Listeners

GynoCurious by Radio Free Rhinecliff

GynoCurious

45 Listeners

Drinking on the Edge by Radio Free Rhinecliff

Drinking on the Edge

4 Listeners

The Week That Was by Radio Free Rhinecliff

The Week That Was

3 Listeners

Class from the Past by Radio Free Rhinecliff

Class from the Past

13 Listeners

Serial Tales - Joan Juliet Buck's Littleburg Tales by RFR and Joan Juliet Buck

Serial Tales - Joan Juliet Buck's Littleburg Tales

5 Listeners

Talk to Allison by Radio Free Rhinecliff Productions

Talk to Allison

4 Listeners

Pilgrim's Progress by Radio Free Rhinecliff

Pilgrim's Progress

2 Listeners

The Campaign Companion by Radio Free Rhinecliff

The Campaign Companion

4 Listeners

STEAM with Kitty Pilgrim by Radio Free Rhinecliff Productions

STEAM with Kitty Pilgrim

0 Listeners

Lazy & Entitled by Radio Free Rhinecliff

Lazy & Entitled

40 Listeners

Objects of New York by Radio Free Rhinecliff

Objects of New York

4 Listeners

The Pod Catch by The Daily Catch & Radio Free Rhinecliff

The Pod Catch

3 Listeners

Poe's Basement by Radio Free Rhinecliff

Poe's Basement

5 Listeners

Likeable by Radio Free Rhinecliff

Likeable

5 Listeners

Going Rogue by Radio Free Rhinecliff

Going Rogue

26 Listeners