Queen's University Belfast said on Monday it will end formal associations with former U.S. Senator George Mitchell in response to material newly released in a tranche of files tied to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The university stated it will remove Mitchell's name from the Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice and take down a bust that had been displayed on campus. In explaining the move, university officials noted that while no finding of wrongdoing has been made against Senator Mitchell, the institution has determined that continuing to display his name and likeness in its institutional spaces is no longer appropriate - particularly in light of the experiences of victims and survivors and the recent disclosures.
According to the university, its decision followed information that surfaced in the latest release of millions of documents linked to Epstein, which were published by the U.S. Justice Department last Friday. References to "George Mitchell" in the released files included an email from 2013 with the subject line "Appt w/Senator George Mitchell" and another message from 2010 that read "George Mitchell returned your phone call." Both of those messages were sent after Epstein's 2008 incarceration for soliciting paid sex from a minor.
The documents about Mitchell appeared among the broader set of files that have been made public since Epstein's death while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in 2019. The university emphasized that, despite the absence of formal findings of misconduct against Mitchell, the institution must weigh the sensibilities of victims and survivors when deciding which names and monuments are displayed in its spaces.
Requests for comment from Mitchell and from the Maine-based Mitchell Institute did not receive an immediate response, the university said. Separately, BBC News cited a spokesperson for the 92-year-old former senator who stated that he never met, spoke to, or had any contact with Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre or any underage women; that statement was issued prior to the university's announcement.
The repercussions extended beyond the campus. The non-profit US-Ireland Alliance said its board unanimously agreed that the George J. Mitchell Scholarship program - which sponsors American graduate students to study in Ireland and Northern Ireland for a year - should no longer bear his name, also citing the newly released files.
George Mitchell chaired the 1998 talks between Irish nationalists and pro-British unionists that produced the Good Friday Agreement, the accord that largely ended decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. The university's decision to remove Mitchell's name from an institute devoted to global peace, security and justice links an iconic local and international legacy to the fallout from the newly released material.
University officials indicated that the removal of the name and bust is meant to reflect sensitivity to victims and survivors while the institution considers institutional integrity and public trust. The actions at Queen's University Belfast and the US-Ireland Alliance show how organizations carrying an individual's name are reassessing those associations in light of newly surfaced documents.