What was supposed to be a celebratory send-off for Bard High School Early College seniors in Upper Manhattan turned into a public rebuke of the college’s longtime leader. Students booed and heckled Bard College President Leon Botstein on Monday during commencement at the United Palace, erupting just as he urged graduates to engage with people they disagree with. The noise swelled until Botstein paused mid-speech and shook his head before finishing his remarks. The scene capped months of anger over revelations about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein and the announcement that he will step down later this month.
Heckling interrupts remarks
According to The New York Times, the crowd turned especially hostile when Botstein told graduates that “to get anything done, you’re going to have to dance with the devil.” Many students took the line as a veiled nod to his past dealings with Epstein. The Times reports that Botstein never mentioned Epstein by name, but the boos and shouts rose so sharply that he stopped speaking and briefly shook his head. Inside the nearly 3,400-seat United Palace, the disruption grew loud enough to momentarily overwhelm the program.
Investigation and retirement
An independent review ordered by Bard’s board found that Botstein had exchanged messages and visits with Jeffrey Epstein and “minimized” the scope of that relationship when speaking to the campus community, reporting by Inside Higher Ed found. The fallout from those findings led Botstein to announce in May that he would retire at the end of June, according to The Associated Press. That timeline has powered protests and an organized student push for broader accountability inside the Bard community.
Bard's response and campus tensions
Bard officials say Botstein’s contentious line was about civic engagement, not his past. The college argued that his comments were meant to stress the importance of speaking with people even when you disagree, and Jennifer Strodl, Bard’s director of communications, told The New York Times that he was not referring to Jeffrey Epstein. Administrators framed the phrase as part of a broader plea for dialogue, but students and some alumni said it landed like a defense of old associations and left much of the auditorium uneasy. The clash highlighted a larger, simmering question: how should institutions respond when the private relationships of their leaders cast a long public shadow?
What the schools are
The graduates at United Palace came from Bard High School Early Colleges, a network of public schools that grant both a high school diploma and college credits in partnership with Bard. The system runs campuses in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens, along with a partner campus in Newark, according to Bard High School Early Colleges. Student organizers behind this spring’s protests have argued that Bard’s board and administration must do more to answer concerns raised by survivors and other critics as Epstein-related records circulated. That activism has continued to shape Bard-connected public events, reporting by Inside Higher Ed shows.
What's next
Botstein’s retirement is scheduled to take effect on June 30, and Bard’s board is expected to appoint interim leadership while it launches a national search for his successor, The Guardian reported. The noisy showdown at United Palace is the latest sign that the Epstein revelations are still roiling campuses and feeding student activism long after the initial reports first broke.
