Jesus. I do have to wonder why exactly Harvard is not getting lashed by the press too? They were even more entangled with Epstein from the sounds of it.
Society preys on those who show weakness. Harvard asserted immediately they would give no money back, while Joi apologized. Negroponte, a more old-school elite, stepped in to play the same move as Harvard but it was too late.
The ethical challenge this New Yorker article presents is that:
- Members of the Media Lab knew at least some of Mr. Epstein's transgressions (to the point that some of them were concerned he may have brought trafficked women into the lab)
- Subsequently solicited funds from him, despite knowledge of these transgressions
- Actively concealed the source of these funds
Additionally, it seems that members may have intentionally broken MIT administrative policy that disqualified Mr. Epstein as a donor.
I googled around a bit, and maybe didn't find the entanglements that you're referring to. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I could only find that Harvard accepted money before knowledge of Mr. Epstein's attacks could be expected to be publicly known [1]. Articles also mention personal relationships that Mr. Epstein had with individuals at Harvard. However, those don't seem to have involved Harvard the institution directly.
Again, I could have missed something, but these seem to be different situations. And it makes sense that the Media Lab would attract more attention in this case than Harvard.