Leon Botstein says he may stay at Bard College after the presidency. The question is not whether he will remain involved, but when and in what capacity.
The 79-year-old president, who has led Bard since 1975, has discussed retiring and moving into another role once a successor is found, according to a report in the Times Union. No departure date has been set, and the newspaper said he appears to have no immediate plans to leave.
Botstein’s future has become a matter of institutional scrutiny since his ties to Jeffrey Epstein were revealed in February. His name appears more than 2,800 times in files related to Epstein, including emails that suggested a closer relationship than had previously been known. Botstein has said his contact with Epstein stemmed from his work as a fundraiser for Bard.
Since the revelations, Botstein has met several times with Bard students and employees, including at three town halls, a faculty meeting, and a meeting with operations and support staff last week. Ann Lauterbach, a professor of languages and literature, told the Times Union, “My impression is that he will retire on his own clock. I think the most important thing is that he is not going to be forced to retire because of the Epstein files.”
The college’s board hired a law firm in February to review Botstein’s interactions with Epstein. Botstein has said a successor search would follow the completion of that review, which is expected before the end of May. At a faculty meeting in March, he acknowledged the controversy directly, saying, “I am imperfect. It was a risk, and when you take risks and don’t do things by convention, you are likely to make mistakes. But I accept them … the good news is we have come to the other side.”
He also said Bard would need enough time to manage the transition and secure financial support for the next administration. Several staffers who spoke with the Times Union said he has suggested he may remain on faculty as a historian and musician, teach, run performance programs, and move out of the president’s house into another college-owned home on campus.
For Bard, the issue reaches beyond one presidency. The college’s standing in the art world has long been tied to the Center for Curatorial Studies and the CCS Hessel Museum of Art, making the outcome of the review and succession process closely watched well beyond campus.
