ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON — Ken Cooper, Bard College’s former director of safety and security, said he has received harassing calls from strangers around the country after his name and phone number appeared in newly released Justice Department records tied to the late financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
“This took me by surprise when I was getting phone calls from…Ohio or Arkansas,” Cooper told Mid-Hudson News.
Cooper spent two decades keeping students safe with armed security staff and safe rooms to protect students in active shooter scenarios. He explained that the messages included threatening comments.
Cooper, a lifelong firearms expert and state-certified handgun instructor, took the threats in stride. “Nothing surprises me for what I do for a living, because I’m very involved in law enforcement activities and counter-terrorism things,” Cooper said, adding that he has testified in court “some of the biggest trials in the country.”
Still, Cooper said the recent barrage of messages is a jarring example of how quickly online outrage can become personal — and how a routine security task can be recast as something sinister when stripped of context.
Cooper’s name gained global recognition as 2,500 documents released by the DOJ–involving travel and fundraising efforts–between Bard College President Leon Botstein and Jeffrey Epstein’s team.
His name surfaced with emails discussing the routine logistics of Epstein’s chartered helicopter landing at the campus’s Blithewood Estate on May 4, 2013. Cooper said his role in the helicopter landing was straightforward, involving coordination with campus departments and outside parties.
The Justice Department has been releasing Epstein-related material in batches under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, citing the volume of responsive records and the need for redactions to protect victims and other sensitive information.
Cooper is crystal-clear in his assertion no wrongdoing occurred that justify threats. “That has nothing to do with any inappropriate activities whatsoever,” Cooper said.
“College presidents usually don’t do background checks on people they talk to and they don’t hire private investigators. This guy had a reputation of being a very wealthy entrepreneur, and that’s what college presidents look for, for donations to their college. Nothing nefarious,” he said. “Maybe in the future all college presidents, whoever they talk to, should vet everybody they come in contact with.”
Cooper claims he was unaware of Epstein’s felony conviction of solicitation and procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution in the state of Florida. Cooper said he is not an Epstein or Botstein apologist. “No one likes a pedophile.”
The growing moral and ethical concern on and off campus is the long-term relationship between Botstein and Epstein. Botstein’s recollection of dates and his own participation remain inconsistent. Several announcements made by a college spokesperson were quickly corrected by reporters examining the documents from the DOJ.
he did not attend the helicopter landing event. However, the campus newspaper Bard Free-Press clearly captured the events surrounding the chopper landing on May 4, 2013 with the college president meeting the chopper along with the potential donor and his travel companions.
Allowing the aircraft to land on campus–with an FAA-approved airport directly across the Hudson River–speaks to the fanfare Botstein granted his guests. Helicopter landings occurred once a year, the former safety director said.
Cooper said he was unaware that Epstein’s travel companions were not his daughters. “Mr. Epstein has some really good-looking daughters,” Cooper did recall.
Simply communicating about landing and safety details has put Cooper in the crosshairs of social media keyboard warriors and those who chose to reach out to him.
Cooper said the online backlash has stripped away that context, leading some callers to treat a security task as evidence of complicity in Epstein’s crimes.
Cooper framed Botstein’s interactions with Epstein as part of an “unglamorous reality” for college presidents: the dance of soliciting donations.
“He’s dealing with the top people in the country, the most wealthy people in the country. Why would you think there’s any problem?”
Cooper said he does not believe Botstein had advance knowledge of Epstein’s criminal conduct beyond what was publicly known at the time, and he rejected the idea that Botstein’s fundraising contact signaled anything more.
Botstein, a world renown scholar, musician, conductor and fundraiser, helped orchestrate $400-million of a $500-million matching challenge grant from George Soros.
“I spent 20 years with him, and, and I’m not an apologist for pedophiles or for the various people doing bad things.”
But Cooper said that, in practice, college leaders often engage with donors and prospective donors whose reputations may be incomplete or misunderstood at the time of the discussions.
“Leon Botstein … does not deal with private investigators to vet anybody he’s talking to, to ask for money,” Cooper said. “Why would he?”
Cooper argued that institutions and the people who lead them can be “fooled” by those who appear legitimate. The former head of security admitted the college was unwittingly ensnared with investments made by Bernie Madoff.
Cooper, who worked at Bard for more than two decades and reported to Botstein, said he has watched what he called an “online pile-on” form around his former boss — and he insists it rests on insinuation rather than evidence.
“Leon Botstein is one of the top educators in the world,” Cooper said.
“He has helped young people who have no chance of survival through education, has made them fantastic human beings, and able to be functional in the world…”
For Cooper, the anger aimed at him — and the broader backlash aimed at Botstein — reflects a larger cultural issue. “People are looking for scapegoats for somebody to hate,” he said. “Hate is very cheap.”
Botstein, facing mounting scrutiny over the releases and optics, issued a contrite communication to the college community on February 10. “I am deeply sorry to have involved myself and the College with him in any way,” Botstein added he was “shocked and appalled by the “monstrous and criminal depravity,” that is coming to light.
While Cooper and Botstein had polar opposite political views, the security chief backed up his former boss. “There’s nothing to defend against. He’s absolutely guiltless in anything that has to do with Epstein, for sure,” Cooper said about claims of complicity or collusion. Ken Cooper received the “Bardian Award” in 2019 and was recognized as being the best-known staff member on campus.
Botstein’s relentless fundraising strategy was aimed at keeping the college afloat. The final chapter on possible collateral damage remains unclear. Students are planning Tuesday February 17th on-campus rally–seeking the president’s resignation.
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