Harvard University joined its crosstown rival MIT in belatedly acknowledging deeper-than-disclosed, extensive ties to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
In a letter to alumni on Friday, Harvard President Lawrence Bacow detailed an internal review of the Ivy League school's relationship with the late Epstein, concluding that the $9.1 million in gifts he gave directly came to a halt following his sex-crimes conviction in 2008. His relationship with the school continued, however, with gifts through surrogates and more that 40 visits to a program that he had given money to before his conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor.
He even maintained until 2017 what came to be "Jeffrey's Office" on campus.
"The report issued today describes principled decision-making but also reveals institutional and individual shortcomings that must be addressed _ not only for the sake of the university but also in recognition of the courageous individuals who sought to bring Epstein to justice," Bacow said in concluding his letter to alumni.
Harvard launched an internal review last Sept. 12, barely a month after Epstein's reported death by suicide on Aug. 10 in the Metropolitan Correctional Center amid circumstances still under investigation. At the time of Harvard's review, the university had already determined he had given $9.1 million between 1998 and 2008. The giving ended when he was convicted of sex crimes and given a remarkably lax deal and later led to the resignation of Alexander Acosta, the Trump administration's labor secretary who was a South Florida federal prosecutor involved in the deal.
The revelations by Harvard follow a similar mea culpa by MIT earlier this year. MIT released a report on Jan. 10, spelling out nine visits to the campus by Epstein and donations of $850,000, many of which occurred when Epstein was already a notorious Level Three sex offender. For both elite schools, a relationship with Epstein has proven a profound embarrassment.
Harvard said Friday it had donated nearly $201,000 of unused Epstein donation money to two Boston-area charities that combat sex trafficking.
Results of the deeper Harvard review released Friday _ led by Vice President and General Counsel Diane Lopez and covering more than 250,000 pages of documents _ show that school administrators became aware of Epstein's predatory sexual behavior only after his 2008 conviction.
"During the years before Epstein's criminal activity became known to the public, various Harvard faculty and administrators pursued donations from him, knowing he was a wealthy individual interested in science and philanthropy," Lopez wrote. "Some members of the Harvard community continued their relationships with Epstein even after his conviction, but these relationships in and of themselves did not violate Harvard policies."
But in 2008, Harvard's new president, Drew G. Faust, had to weigh a gift from Epstein . He learned of the allegations against him and ruled against any more gifts from the financier. In 2013, several faculty members sought to overturn that, requesting reconsideration by the then-dean of faculty of arts and sciences, Michael D. Smith. He too said no.
Presumably looking to restore his tattered reputation, Epstein persistently stayed involved with the prestigious higher-learning institution. Two faculty members, the Lopez report concluded, continued to receive funding from donors they were introduced to by Epstein, although the money was not apparently from him.
"Our review did not reveal information that would establish anything to the contrary. Nevertheless, development officers at Harvard knew about Epstein's continued involvement in encouraging others to donate to Harvard and did not take steps to discourage these efforts despite knowing that gifts would not be welcome from him," Lopez wrote Friday. "No one violated any Harvard policy in this regard, as there is none; a matter we recommend be rectified."
Then there is the matter of repeated visits by Epstein to campus to visit the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics. Evolutionary dynamics involves study of the principles of mathematics that researchers think guided evolution, and Epstein initially funded the program in 2003 with his biggest gift _ $6.5 million.
"Epstein maintained a relationship with the director of the PED, Professor Martin Nowak, over the next 15 years, including after Epstein's release from prison," Lopez wrote. "While we have not been able to determine the precise number of campus visits, we understand that Epstein visited the offices of PED in Harvard Square more than 40 times between 2010 and 2018."
There was no evidence Epstein interacted with undergraduate students, she said, and the financier appeared to use the visits to speak to academics in the Cambridge area, covering both Harvard and MIT.
Lopez added that "aspects of his relationship to the PED, such as his access to the program's offices, treatment on the PED's website and interactions concerning one grant application do implicate Harvard policies and our findings and recommendations address these issues."
Her comments, which accompanied the president's letter to alumni, don't do justice to what was actually in her 27-page report. For example, it detailed how Epstein retained a visitors keycard until at least 2017, and his own office, a premium in the cut-throat world of academics.
"But others who worked at PED, where office space was often scarce, generally did not view it as interchangeable with other offices, and believed it was reserved for Epstein's use when he came. (Epstein did in fact use the office when he visited.) Until 2017, PED maintained a Harvard telephone line in that office identified as Epstein's."
The report recommended the school consider disciplinary action against Nowak, alleging he effectively allowed Epstein to launder his dirty image.
"When Professor Nowak agreed to devote a page of PED's website to Epstein, and agreed to link Epstein's own websites (containing false claims about Epstein's donations to Harvard) to the PED website, it appears that Professor Nowak failed adequately to consider Harvard's interest in seeing that its name is well used," the report said.
Epstein's rise from a poor kid in the New York suburbs to a high-flying financier with an estate valued at more than half a billion dollars at the time of his death is a story full of holes yet to be filled in. He never finished college and enjoy none of the trappings associated with arriving at an Ivy League school.
All that adds to the intrigue on how a college dropout later in life became a visiting fellow at Harvard, something Lopez addressed in more detail as well.
The position then and now is one of an independent research and registered through Harvard's Graduate School of the Arts and Science as a graduate research student. Lopez said Epstein's name was submitted by Dr. Stephen Kosslyn, who between 1998 and 2002 had received $200,000 in donations for his work and did not disclose it in the submission for Epstein to become a visiting fellow. The timeline of the fellowship overlaps with the timeline of Epstein's eventual arrest and conviction _ the first complaint to child sex abuse coming to Palm Beach police in late 2005 and investigation that dragged into a June 2007 indictment.
"After reviewing these records, we conclude, and no one argues to the contrary, that Epstein lacked the academic qualifications Visiting Fellows typically possess and his application proposed a course of study Epstein was unqualified to pursue," Lopez wrote. "Epstein's application was, nevertheless, approved, having been supported by a department chair."
As a visiting fellow, Epstein paid the necessary tuition and showed up for registration, but Lopez said he appeared to do little coursework. Epstein applied to be readmitted for the 2006-2007 academic year and was renewed but withdrew from that appointment later following his indictment.
