Larry Summers to resign from Harvard after Epstein files revelations | Harvard University
Former Harvard University president Larry Summers will resign from his teaching post at the end of the academic year, a spokesman confirmed to the Guardian.
Harvard spokesman Jason Newton said in a statement that news of his official resignation came “in connection with the University’s ongoing review of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein recently disclosed by the government.”
According to the spokesperson, Summers also resigned from his position as co-director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School, a position he had held since 2011. He will remain on leave until the end of the academic year.
The news was first reported by . Harvard Crimsonstudent newspaper.
Summers, a prominent economist and former U.S. treasury secretary, announced in November 2025 that he would leave teaching while the school conducts its investigation.
In a statement shared with the Guardian, Summers admitted that the decision to leave was “difficult”.
“I will always be grateful to the thousands of students and colleagues with whom I have had the privilege of teaching and working with since I arrived at Harvard as a graduate student 50 years ago,” he added.
“As President Emeritus and a professor emeritus, free from official responsibility, I look forward to providing research, analysis and commentary on a range of global economic issues.”
Emails released by the U.S. House oversight committee in 2025 reignited questions about Summers’ relationship with Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors. Many of the messages hinted at a friendship that lasted into 2019. The contact ended, however, shortly before Epstein’s arrest in July of that year.
Scrutiny against Summers, once a prominent figure in Democratic circles, has intensified in recent months. In addition to serving as a former treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, he served as director of the White House national economic council (NEC) from January 2009 to November 2010, where he guided the Obama administration through the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis.
In their emails, Summers and Epstein reflect on everything from politics to philanthropic efforts to women. Summers, 71, confided in Epstein about pursuing a romantic relationship with someone who considered him his “economic mentor.”
In a 2018 message, Epstein refers to himself as Summers’ “team man.” He also advises the economist in a 2019 conversation about rejecting his romantic gestures.
Summers was president of Harvard from 2001 to 2006. epstein donated Between 1998 and 2008, more than $9 million was transferred to Harvard and its affiliated programs; which coincided with Summers’ tenure.
Epstein was also appointed as a visiting researcher to conduct research in the university’s psychology department. The university later concluded that Epstein “lacked the academic qualifications that visitors generally possess and that his application suggested a course of study that Epstein was not qualified to pursue.”
Harvard stopped accepting donations from Epstein after he pleaded guilty to child sex crimes in 2008.
