Harvard University said an internal review found that late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein gave $8.9 million to the school. The money was donated before Epstein’s 2008 conviction for crimes involving girls and young women, Harvard University president Lawrence Bacow wrote in a letter published Thursday.
About $186,000 remains of Epstein’s donation, which Harvard said will be redirected to organizations that support victims of sexual assault and human trafficking, crimes that Epstein had been accused of before his death by suicide in July.
Bacow added that the university is creating a group to examine how donors are vetted and reviewed. Since Epstein’s death, details of his financial support for top universities and scientists have come under scrutiny, with critics pointing out that his donations provided a convicted criminal with a veneer of respectability.
“Epstein’s behavior, not just at Harvard, but elsewhere, raises significant questions about how institutions like ours review and vet donors,” Bacow wrote. “I will be convening a group here at Harvard to review how we prevent these situations in the future.”
To be sure, the world of university philanthropy isn’t known for its choosiness. In some cases, controversy around donations has arisen years after the original gift.
Take Harvard’s ties to the Sackler family, the owners of opioid maker Purdue Pharma who have come under fire for their alleged role in the opioid epidemic. Harvard’s Arthur M. Sackler Museum has become a focal point for people who lost friends and family in the epidemic and who have urged the university to remove the Sackler name from the building. – READ MORE