BUZZ
Former Maine senator and Democratic majority leader’s name appears more than 300 times in Epstein files
The University of Maine will strip former Senator George Mitchell’s name off of campus buildings and a scholarship due to his ties to sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The board of trustees voted on Monday to punish Mitchell, a former Democratic majority leader, despite no evidence of wrongdoing.
“A spokesperson for Mitchell said the former senator denies having any knowledge of Epstein engaging in illegal or inappropriate conduct with underage girls,” WMTW 8 reported.
A task force previously said Mitchell did not commit any crimes, but that “public trust” could be harmed by his name renaming on one building and one scholarship.
The task force reported:
While no findings of wrongdoing by Senator Mitchell have been made, in light of the material that has recently been made public by the U.S. Department of Justice, and mindful of the experiences of victims and survivors, the task force concludes that continued use of Senator Mitchell’s name would compromise the public trust and reflect adversely upon the university and its reputation.
A spokesperson said “the University of Maine Center for Sustainability Solutions will be the temporary new name of the research and engagement center at the flagship campus in Orono,” WMTW reported. “In addition, the prestigious award that supports student exchange between Maine’s public universities and Ireland is being renamed the University of Maine Peace Scholarship.”
Other institutions have cancelled the 93-year-old former senator and diplomat.
WMTW reported:
Mitchell’s official portrait was removed from the walls of the Maine State House on Feb. 27. The Maine Senate President’s Office told Maine’s Total Coverage that the Epstein files were a factor in the decision to remove the portrait. The Mitchell portrait was unveiled in January 2014 in the Hall of Flags, alongside portraits of other Mainers, including former Sens. Margaret Chase and Edmund Muskie.
On March 9, the Waterville School Board voted to remove Mitchell’s name from an elementary school in the city. The school has gone back to its original name of Brookside Elementary.
The release of the “Epstein files” in January of this year has triggered numerous cancel campaigns against academics and university donors.
Yale University placed a computer science professor on leave after an email to Epstein surfaced where the academic referred to a student as a “[good looking] blonde.”
Former Harvard University president Larry Summers also announced he would resign his faculty position after documents revealed that Summers had been named as a successor executor in a 2014 draft of Epstein’s will, meaning he would have been responsible for managing the financier’s estate if the primary executors could not serve.
In a 2018 email, Summers told Epstein he was a “very good wingman” and detailed his efforts to pursue a woman, according to Inside Higher Ed.
The University of Arizona canceled a February conference after multiple speakers were mentioned in the files, The College Fix previously reported.
