I’m always on the lookout for news items tied to college admission, and earlier this week discovered one in an unlikely place, the Epstein Files. More on that in a minute.
The latest, and apparently last, release of the files connected to Epstein and his sex trafficking ring dropped last Friday. Epstein’s victims will apparently not receive any justice from the Department of Justice, with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche stating that it’s not a crime to party with Jeffrey Epstein. The conspiracy theorists among us are left to wonder what hasn’t been and never will be released.
The most recent file drop brought to mind two movies. One is the Woody Allen movie Radio Days. In the final scene the radio personalities who populate that film all turn out to be having holiday dinner together, all part of the same club or clan. The circle of billionaires, celebrities, and political leaders for whom Epstein was the epicenter doesn’t seem all that different.
The second is the movie Con Air. Why Con Air? Because of a classic quote from that movie. No, not “put the bunny back in the box.” The quote is from Garland Greene, the character played by Steve Buscemi. As the plane commandeered by criminals takes off playing the Lynyrd Skynyrd song, “Sweet Home Alabama,” Greene observes, “Define irony. A bunch of idiots dancing on a plane to a song made famous by a band that dies in a plane crash.” Criminals on a plane–define irony.
So what does that have to do with college admission and the Epstein Files? A story this week in the New York Times reported that Soon-yi Previn, wife of Woody Allen, had sent an email to Jeffrey Epstein thanking him for getting her adopted daughter, Bechet, admitted to Bard. Previn is 35 years younger than Allen, and became involved with him when he was the partner to her adoptive mother, Mia Farrow. Define irony.
It is far from clear how much influence Epstein actually had. Epstein contacted long-time Bard President Leon Botstein (who had sought to cultivate Epstein as a donor to the college) about setting up a visit for Allen’s daughter, but how much of a difference did that make? In a statement, a Bard spokesman said, “The applicant referenced in the emails was accepted on the merits of her own qualifications for admission. Bard had already provided a welcome community for two previous family members, and no introduction was needed from the likes of Epstein.”
I believe and hope that’s the case. Bechet Allen was the daughter of a well-known celebrity who attended a prestigious New York independent school (Brearly), and apparently already had family connections at Bard. ECA does not know, or want to know, anything about her credentials as a Bard applicant, but it is hard to believe that Epstein would have tipped the admission scales. Every college applicant, including Bechet Allen, deserves for their college acceptance to be their accomplishment, their victory, alone.
The broader issue here is whether college presidents should intervene in the admissions process. Once again, there’s no evidence that President Botstein played any role in admission, but he did extend favors to a wealthy family in a way that I’m guessing was not available to the average Bard applicant. He is neither the first or the last college president to give special treatment to the family of a celebrity or potential donor, but there is something at least a little unsavory about presidents’ offices taking a role in the admissions process.
After seeing the Times story, I did a quick search on the DOJ Epstein files site for other mentions of college admission. There are some duplicate files, but I found four distinct mentions with some relation to admission. Two involved either Bard or Soon-yi Previn. Define irony.
One involved Epstein’s foundation, which among its projects supported several secondary schools around the country. Those included three Bard Early College high schools located in Manhattan, Queens, and Newark, New Jersey. Another school Epstein supported was the charter school in D.C. named for poet Maya Angelou.
The second was a mysterious email exchange between Soon-yi Previn and Jeffrey Epstein following the 2019 Operation Varsity Blues admissions scandal. Previn sent Epstein an email on March 27 with a link to a story about Yale revoking the admission of one of the Operation Varsity Blues students whose parents had bribed Yale’s women’s soccer coach to get a place on the team. Epstein responded with a one-word reply, “yikes.” Does anyone else find that intriguing, even suspicious? Is there some kind of a story there?
The two most troubling of the four other mentions of college admission in the Epstein files are two of the legal complaints filed by “Jane Doe” accusers of Epstein. Both spell out Epstein’s sexual abuse in similar fashion, but also include reports that Epstein promised both help in the college admissions process in exchange for submitting to his and Ghislane Maxwell’s orders.
In each case Epstein had the girls fill out application materials and give them to him for review. He promised that admission was a “done deal” given his connections if they complied with his instructions, but also threatened to ruin their lives if they didn’t comply. Ha apparently never followed through. In one case, the student’s high school transcript was among the materials found by police in a search of Epstein’s mansion. There may be no crime as despicable as sex trafficking and taking advantage of vulnerable young people, but ruining hopes and dreams isn’t far behind as a form of abuse.
We can only hope that Epstein’s victims get the justice they deserve, either through our justice system or in the next life. The same goes for all those who took part in and covered up Epstein’s crimes.