The Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan has announced plans to demolish a lodge formerly named after Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender. The decision, approved by the board of trustees, comes after allegations that Epstein met at least two of his victims on the premises.
The building, known as the Green Lake Lodge, was previously called the Jeffrey E. Epstein Scholarship Lodge until the institution removed all references to Epstein following his initial conviction in 2008. Epstein, who attended the Interlochen Arts Camp as a teenager in 1967, donated more than $400,000 to the school between 1990 and 2003, including $200,000 for the lodge's construction.
In a statement, Interlochen said: 'The lodge has, over time, come to carry associations that are not reflective of who we are as an institution or the values we strive to uphold.' The board determined that removing the structure 'in a safe and timely manner is the right step for Interlochen at this time.'
Interlochen, a world-renowned summer arts camp and boarding school, counts Grammy winners Chappell Roan and Norah Jones among its alumni. At least two of Epstein's accusers have said they met him at Interlochen in the 1990s. The school has invited them to speak with an independent investigator as part of an external probe into historical misconduct.
Internal reviews, including one after Epstein's 2019 sex trafficking arrest, found no records of misconduct involving Epstein at Interlochen. Epstein visited the camp periodically, often with Ghislaine Maxwell, and stayed in the lodge now marked for demolition. He died by suicide in a federal jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
