At Brown University, a fundraising director
was placed on administrative leave following
a report that accused him of helping cover
up Epstein’s connections to the MIT Media
Lab. Brown spokesman Brian Clark told The
Providence Journal Sunday that Peter Cohen,
director of development for computer and
data science, is on leave pending a review.
Clark said Brown hasn’t received donations
from Epstein. Cohen did not respond to a
phone call seeking comment.
The fallout over Epstein’s funding is only the
latest in a long list of similar disputes. In 2017,
the University of Southern California rejected
a $5 million donation from Harvey Weinstein
after he was accused of sexual misconduct.
Weinstein has denied all accusations.
Purdue University returned an $8 million
donation from the founder of the Papa
John’s pizza chain last year after he allegedly
used a racial slur. In 2016, Ohio University
returned $500,000 from former Fox News CEO
Roger Ailes after he was accused of sexual
harassment, allegations that Ailes denied.
Students and faculty at Harvard, Yale and
other universities have been pressing
leaders to reject funding from the Sackler
family, which owns Purdue Pharma, maker
of Oxycontin, and has been blamed for
contributing to the opioid crisis. The Sacklers
have called some of the accusations against
the company misleading and said that the
family has been wrongly vilified, while trying
to distance themselves from the workings of
the company.