Yale Prof Defends Epstein Note: Men Are 'Obsessed With Girls'

Yale University says a prominent computer science professor will not teach classes while it reviews his conduct, after newly released documents show he sent Jeffrey Epstein an email describing an undergraduate as a good-looking blonde while recommending her for a job, per the AP. Messages between David Gelernter—who made headlines in 1993 when he was wounded by a mail explosive sent by "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski—and the late, disgraced financier were among the trove of Epstein-related documents released by the Justice Department in late January. The documents show Gelernter and Epstein corresponding on a variety of topics including business and art.

In an email to Epstein in October 2011—several years after Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl—Gelernter wrote that he had an "editoress" in mind for a job—a Yale senior whom he described as a "v small good-looking blonde."
Gelernter defended that message in an email last week to Jeffrey Brock, dean of Yale's School of Engineering & Applied Science, according to the Yale Daily News, which reported that Gelernter also forwarded the email to the student newspaper. He noted that Epstein was "obsessed with girls"—"like every other unmarried billionaire in Manhattan; in fact, like every other heterosex male"—and he was keeping "the potential boss's habits in mind."

"So long as I said nothing that dishonored her in any conceivable way, I'd have told him more or less what he wanted," Gelernter wrote to Brock, the paper reported. "She was smart, charming & gorgeous. Ought I to have suppressed that info? Never!" He added: "I'm very glad I wrote the note." Students in Gelernter's computer science class were notified that he would not be teaching on Tuesday. "The university does not condone the action taken by the professor or his described manner of providing recommendations for his students," Yale said in a statement. "The professor's conduct is under review."

In a message to students on Tuesday, Gelernter elaborated on the email to Epstein, saying he was recommending the undergraduate student for a summer job with Epstein's private bank, and she wanted the recommendation. He said he and the student did not know at the time that Epstein was a convicted sex offender.