Larry Summers, former president of Harvard University, will resign from teaching at the end of the academic year, a spokesperson confirmed to the Guardian.
The news of his formal resignation comes “in connection with the ongoing review by the University of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein that were recently released by the government”, a Harvard spokesperson, Jason Newton, said in a statement.
Summers resigns from Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government
Summers resigned from his role as co-director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School, a position he has held since 2011, according to the spokesperson. He will remain on leave until the end of the academic year.
The news was first reported by the Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper.
Summers, a distinguished economist and former Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, declared in November 2025 that he would cease teaching during the school’s investigation.
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Summers calls his decision ‘difficult’
In a statement released to the Guardian, Summers recognized that the choice to depart was “difficult.”
“I will always be grateful to the thousands of students and colleagues I have been privileged to teach and work with since coming to Harvard as a graduate student 50 years ago,” he continued.
“Free of formal responsibility, as President Emeritus and a retired professor, I look forward in time to engaging in research, analysis and commentary on a range of global economic issues.”
Summers and Epstein discussed women in emails
Emails released by the US House oversight committee in 2025 have reignited inquiries regarding Summers’ association with Epstein, who passed away in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges related to the sex trafficking of minors. Numerous messages suggested a friendship that persisted well into 2019, with contact ceasing only shortly before Epstein’s arrest in July of that year.
The scrutiny surrounding Summers, a once-prominent figure in Democratic circles, has increased in recent months. In addition to his role as former treasury secretary during the Clinton administration, he also served as the director of the White House National Economic Council (NEC) from January 2009 until November 2010, where he navigated the Obama administration through the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis.
Within the emails, Summers and Epstein discuss a range of topics, including politics, philanthropic efforts, and women. Summers, now 71, confided in Epstein about his pursuit of a romantic relationship with an individual who regarded him as an “economic mentor.”
In a message from 2018, Epstein describes himself as Summers’s “wingman.” He also offers the economist advice in a 2019 exchange regarding his romantic overtures being rejected.
Summers held the position of president at Harvard from 2001 to 2006. Epstein contributed over $9 million to Harvard and its associated programs between 1998 and 2008, a period that coincided with Summers’s presidency.