ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON — A small group of Bard College students, alumni, faculty and parents rallied near President Leon Botstein’s on-campus home on Tuesday, calling for him to resign amid renewed scrutiny over his past relationship with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
“It’s time to go. Someone has to be held accountable for the disgusting things that happened with Epstein,” said Daisy Bolle, the mother of a Bard graduate from Saugerties.
Protesters held signs and chanted while criticizing what they described as a lack of transparency from college leadership and the college’s handling of fallout from newly public records.
Protest organizer Tallulah Woitach was emotional about the issue. “I find Leon Botstein’s behavior absolutely abhorrent and disgusting,” said.
Jeffrey Epstein was convicted of soliciting and procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution in 2008. Botstein invited him to the campus in May 2013 and denied meeting with him despite there being published reports with clear details. On February 10, 2026, Botstein issued a statement that Epstein had visited the campus a few times.
Van Bolle, the father of a Bard graduate and another daughter who just dropped out, told Mid-Hudson News that having a known sex offender on campus for fundraising purposes is “an insane justification.”
“There are literally billions of people in this world, and there’s plenty of ways to approach fundraising without dealing with the unsavory characters,” Van Bolle said.
“You know, the values of this school need to align with the values of the ways that money is raised for this place,” Bolle added.
Several participants at the rally said the demonstration was meant to build pressure on Bard’s trustees and to expand organizing beyond campus. Woitach said they are working to coordinate a planned summit on the issue, but some involved “still want to stay anonymous,” which is making it a challenge to coordinate.
Speaking out against the college president’s interactions with a known sex offender created concern during the on-campus protest. Bard College security and staff made their presence known near the president’s home and the road leading to the administration building.
One faculty member did not want her name used. Speaking emotionally, she said she feared repercussions, describing the atmosphere as intimidating. “Anxious, scared … my biggest bosses are behind me,” the educator said.
“I love Bard … and that’s why it’s so painful,” the educator explained, saying the community had been “spit in the face” by administrators.
Bard is known as a liberal arts college that fosters critical thinking, creative expression and interacting with peers on a global level. Asked whether Botstein would resign, Woitach replied: “No, but we’re going to make him,” saying the effort would require “not just students and student pressure, but alumni and anyone with any kind of influence in association with Bard College.”
Following the Department of Justice document dump, Bard College has responded with statements that do not align with facts presented by journalists. President Botstein issued a statement to the college community on February 10 explaining he was “deeply sorry to have involved myself and the College with him in any way,” and “shocked and appalled” by the “monstrous and criminal depravity” coming to light.
For those attending the protest, those words rang hollow and fell short of the stature and responsibility of the president who has led Bard College for 50 years. “If this college can’t practice the values on which it was supposedly founded, I don’t really know why it exists at all,” said Woitach.
Mid-Hudson News did not receive a comment back from school officials on Tuesday’s protest on campus.
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