It has been revealed that Joi Ito, the current director of the MIT Media Lab, had a close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy New York-based financier who was awaiting trial for sexual trafficking of young girls when he committed suicide in federal custody.

Joi Ito has apologized for visiting Epstein at several of his residences around the world after meeting Epstein in 2013, but his apology is not enough. Epstein was widely publicized to be a registered sex offender from the date of his Florida conviction in 2008, years before Ito started associating with him. MIT, as one of the preeminent technology institutions in the world, cannot send a message that its high level officials are permitted to associate with a sexual predator like Epstein who has harmed at least dozens, probably hundreds, of girls through his depraved sexual predations.

There is no room at the top of an elite university for anyone who had close ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Joi Ito must be removed.