Yale Prof Defends Epstein Note: Men Are ‘Obsessed With Girls’

Yale University says a prominent computer science professor will step away from teaching while the school reviews his conduct, after newly released documents show he sent Jeffrey Epstein an email describing an undergraduate as a “very small good-looking blonde” while recommending her for a job, according to the AP.

Messages between David Gelernter—who was injured in 1993 by a mail bomb sent by Theodore Kaczynski—and Epstein were among a collection of Epstein-related documents released by the U.S. Justice Department in late January. The correspondence shows the two discussing topics including business and art.

In an October 2011 email to Epstein—years after Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor—Gelernter wrote that he had an “editoress” in mind for a position, referring to a Yale senior he described as a “v small good-looking blonde.”

Gelernter addressed the message in an email last week to Jeffrey Brock, dean of Yale’s School of Engineering & Applied Science, according to the Yale Daily News, and also forwarded his explanation to the student newspaper. He wrote that Epstein was “obsessed with girls,” adding that he was keeping “the potential boss’s habits in mind” when describing the student. “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, according to the paper. “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 informed Tuesday that he would not be teaching. In a statement, Yale said, “The university does not condone the action taken by the professor or his described manner of providing recommendations for his students. The professor’s conduct is under review.”

In a separate message to students Tuesday, Gelernter said he had been recommending the undergraduate for a summer job with Epstein’s private bank at her request, and that neither he nor the student knew at the time that Epstein was a convicted sex offender.