Harvard is still paying a professor who exchanged disturbing messages with convicted predator Jeffrey Epstein.
Martin Nowak, a mathematics and biology professor, remains on paid administrative leave while the university supposedly investigates his conduct. Nearly half a year into this so-called inquiry, Harvard has shared absolutely nothing about its findings or when it plans to wrap things up, as reported recently.
Here is where it gets really uncomfortable. When the Justice Department dumped over three million Epstein-related documents in January under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a peculiar email chain from March 10, 2014 surfaced between Nowak and Epstein. Nowak wrote that "our spy was captured after completing her mission." Epstein's chilling response? "Did you torture her." No context. No explanation in the thread. Just that.
Keep in mind, this exchange happened more than five years after Epstein had already pleaded guilty to soliciting minors for prostitution. And Nowak was still chatting it up with the guy.
Nowak scrambled to explain himself on his personal website, claiming the whole "spy" thing was just leftover lingo from playing the computer game Civilization II years earlier. He insisted it had nothing to do with real people, real missions, or real torture. He also said he had no clue why Epstein responded the way he did. Convenient.
But this cozy relationship goes way deeper than one weird email. Back in 2003, Epstein handed Harvard a cool $6.5 million to create the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, which Nowak ran out of a separate building near Harvard Yard. A university investigation in 2020 revealed that Epstein kept ties with Nowak for 15 straight years, including after getting out of prison. Even wilder, the program maintained a dedicated office for Epstein, and he showed up to the facility more than 40 times between 2010 and 2018.
It gets worse. In 2014, Epstein's publicist apparently asked Nowak's program to build a webpage about Epstein on a Harvard-controlled website because it would boost his Google search results. Nowak greenlit the request, giving a convicted sex offender a shiny harvard.edu page to polish his reputation. Emails later obtained also referred to the research operation as Epstein's own program at Harvard.
Harvard eventually shut down the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics in 2021 and folded its research into the math department. The school actually restored Nowak's research and advising privileges in 2023, seemingly ready to move on. Then the new federal document dump hit in early 2025, and Harvard yanked him back onto leave in February.
Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Hopi Hoekstra previously stated the probe would examine potential violations of university policy and professional conduct standards. But as of mid-August, the school would only confirm Nowak is still on leave, still collecting a paycheck, and still technically a Harvard employee.
So to recap, Harvard has been sitting on this for six months with zero public accountability. The Ivy League sure knows how to run out the clock.
Read more American news stories at: The American Tribune
Last edited by a moderator:
