Nearly two weeks after the largest trove of Epstein files was released, some of Jeffrey Epstein’s regular academic pen pals are facing consequences for their correspondence with the late sex offender.
University officials removed the profile for Mark Tramo, an associate adjunct professor of neurology at the University of California, Los Angeles, from the university’s list of experts for media, KTLA reported. University spokespeople did not respond to a request for comment, and UCLA officials have not spoken publicly about Tramo’s relationship with Epstein. A petition for his removal had garnered more than 6,000 signatures as of Wednesday evening.
Duke University officials announced last week it had closed three research centers, including the Center for Advanced Hindsight, run by business professor Dan Ariely, who is named hundreds of times in the Epstein files. A university spokesperson told The Duke Chronicle that the decision to close the center was unrelated to Ariely’s ties to Epstein. A few days earlier, Ariely wrote an op-ed in the student newspaper about his relationship with Epstein.
At Yale University, officials temporarily removed computer science professor David Gelernter from the classroom this spring, The Yale Daily News reported. Gelernter, a Yale graduate who has taught at the university since the early 1980s, defended his correspondence with Epstein to multiple media outlets and said he does not regret describing a Yale undergraduate as a “v small goodlooking blonde [sic]” in a 2011 email to Epstein. In an email to School of Engineering and Applied Science dean Jeffrey Brock, which student journalists shared with Inside Higher Ed, he wrote that he kept “the potential boss’s habits in mind” when describing the student to Epstein and said he was “very glad” to have written the note.
“The ‘outcry’ following the totally pointless disclosure of the Epstein files seems to be almost over (in my case, I mean). But just for the record, I ought to tell you the facts,” Gelernter wrote to Brock, going on to describe his relationship with the Yale alumna he referenced to Epstein. “During this term, we (wife & I) had her out to lunch or dinner several times. She slept over at our house at least twice … Going forward, the mystery person mainly (I think) talked about her current (variable) boyfriend. She’s naturally shy and reticent, but has other attractions—enormous charm, for one—that draw people to her. And (oh yes), she’s s [sic] strikingly beautiful. After she graduated, she lived in NH for a while & continued to stop by my office (which I thought was great). As for the guilty email, there is nothing in it that could possibly offend any rational-minded person on earth.”
Gelernter is currently under review and will not teach again until the review is complete, Yale spokesperson Karen Peart told Inside Higher Ed.
“Last week, leadership in the School of Engineering and Applied Science became aware of reports regarding communication between a professor and a party external to the Yale community; the professor later both acknowledged and defended this communication and the action he took in connection with the communication,” Peart said in a statement. “The university does not condone the action taken by the professor or his described manner of providing recommendations for his students.”
Gelernter did not respond to a request for comment prior to publication.
The University of Arizona canceled its April The Science of Consciousness conference after the names of several speakers and organizers, including anesthesiologist and professor Stuart Hameroff, surfaced in the Epstein files. In an X post about the cancellation, Hameroff wrote, “In 2017 I obtained one time funding for a TSC conference in San Diego from Mr Epstein. I deeply regret that, and apologize to Epstein survivors, those horrified by his activities, TSC participants and my colleagues at the University of Arizona, especially the Arizona Astrobiology Center.”
Bard College president Leon Botstein wrote directly to faculty, staff and students Tuesday to clarify his relationship with Epstein.
“My interactions with Epstein were always and only for the sole purpose of soliciting donations for the College. Mr. Epstein was not my friend; he was a prospective donor,” he wrote, and explained how he sought to develop Epstein as a regular donor to Bard after he gave $75,000 to Bard High School Early College in 2011. “Mr. Epstein was a skilled manipulator, prodigious networker, and serial exaggerator, and it appears he used the association with Bard and other institutions to burnish his image, although he never displayed generosity to the College commensurate with his claims of wealth.”
Botstein also wrote about a dinner with Epstein and others in the Virgin Islands, an email conversation about Lolita author Vladimir Nabokov—whom Epstein talked to multiple higher education figures about—and advice he gave Epstein about purchasing an antique watch.
David Ross resigned from his position as department chair at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan last week, The New York Times reported. Epstein had pitched him on a potential art exhibit titled “Statutory” that would showcase underage models dressed to look older than they were. “You are incredible,” Ross told Epstein in response to the idea. The exhibit was never created, and Ross has since expressed his regret. “I continue to be appalled by his crimes and remain deeply concerned for its many victims,” he told the Times.
College and university board members are also in hot water over their association with Epstein. Brad Karp, a trustee at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., resigned from his role Monday, as well as his job at the law firm Paul, Weiss, the Times Union reported. Karp had exchanged emails with Epstein for several years, including correspondence about surveilling a woman that Karp’s client had hoped to take to court.
Thomas Pritzker, the cousin of Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker and a University of Chicago trustee, also maintained a relationship with Epstein, The Chicago Maroon reported. University spokespeople did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Barnard College hired Joon Kim, the lawyer who investigated the sexual harassment allegations against former New York governor Andrew Cuomo to look into the college’s ties to Epstein, including trustee Francine LeFrak’s relationship to the financier, The Columbia Spectator reported Wednesday.
“Barnard is a place where women’s education is championed and where women are supported, uplifted, and given the tools to become the best versions of themselves. Barnard has never accepted money from Jeffrey Epstein, and we are not aware of any connection to the College,” a college spokesperson told Inside Higher Ed. “Nevertheless, in an abundance of care, we have retained independent counsel to review the facts and advise the College accordingly.”
