College Campuses Are in Upheaval Over Faculty Ties to Epstein

411 points by wiredmagazine a day ago on reddit | 27 comments

cheerful_cynic | a day ago

Well yeah, when their specific email interactions have been disclosed. Can't pretend it was vague fundraising money & you never knew the guy, when your actual conversations are now visible

I don't care, turn the files into trials. Bring on the fucking light of day

Secret-Painter-3211 | a day ago

lol kinda weird seeing a post with no title, feels like finding an unmarked treasure chest on reddit

YAOMTC | a day ago

It has a title though? Is this a joke I'm not getting

newpua_bie | a day ago

It's probably a bot account farming karma with random nonsensical comments

JaronK | a day ago

Yup. Has the usual name scheme for a lot of bots (two words, then a number). Notice another one near the bottom also with a barely on theme comment and "ha ha". The bot probably couldn't read the article due to paywall and just says something strange.

Quouar | 23 hours ago

> Eventually, the academic establishment may have to reckon with the very nature of how it courts and accepts the largesse of benefactors. As much as the Epstein saga is a story of systematic sexual abuse, it has meanwhile laid bare the workings of money and influence at the highest levels of society—including those hallowed places that imagine themselves above allegations of corruption.

This last paragraph is by far the most interesting part of the article because it's where the argument actually lies. We can talk about individuals and their associations with Epstein, but, much like with police shootings, it's easy to dismiss those as "bad apples" that aren't representative of the system.

The reality is that capital is a fundamental part of academia, with academics being judged on how much money they can bring into their universities. The research that "matters" is the research that gets money, hence professors and administrators being willing to completely ignore how monstrous someone is if it means they can get the grant money.

What needs to be examined is not each individual person - though, to be clear, there should be consequences for enabling monsters. What needs to be examined is the systems that enabled him and so many others to be those monsters.

And let's be real, those systems are never going to be examined, and so the horrors will repeat, over and over again.

ms_panelopi | 22 hours ago

So this is why the Ivy Leagues caved to Trump right from the start.

Schlarfus_McNarfus | a day ago

The latest BtB podcast really highlights the connection between MIT Media Lab, BitCoin, and Jepstein

[OP] wiredmagazine | a day ago

Many of Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to prominent universities and academics, which he maintained through monetary donations and luxury gifts, have been known since his 2019 arrest and suicide in a Manhattan jail cell. After the US Justice Department published 3 million new documents related to criminal investigations of the late sex trafficker last month, however, it became clear that his influence in higher education was far more sweeping.

As a result of email exchanges included in this new tranche of files, several professors and university administrators have found themselves publicly associated with Epstein for the first time, and caught in a maelstrom of angry students, alumni, and colleagues.

Merely appearing in files doesn’t implicate someone in any alleged criminality, but the turmoil over these interactions has touched all manner of campuses, from small arts schools to major public universities and the Ivy League. The faculty members who cultivated relationships with Epstein, suddenly called to account, have largely insisted that they only saw him as a deep-pocketed donor only inviting further controversy over the financial ethics of US academia.

Read the full article: https://www.wired.com/story/college-faculty-epstein-files/

confusedquokka | a day ago

We can’t read it

ghanima | 19 hours ago

Anywhere that large sums of money exchanges hands in an economic system that rewards sociopathy, there will be opportunity for sociopaths to gather influence and power.

shyhumble | a day ago

Good. Burn it down. The university system in this country has gotten so bloated and out of control expensive.

GushStasis | 9 hours ago

What a reductive take

Numerous-Frame-5736 | a day ago

might be a glitch or they just didn’t notice it lol