News of former Harvard president’s resignation comes ‘in connection with ongoing review’ of Epstein files
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 spokesman, Jason Newton, said in a statement to the Guardian.
Summers also 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 renowned economist and former US treasury secretary, announced in November 2025 that he would stop teaching while the school conducted its investigation.
In a statement shared with the Guardian, Summers acknowledged that the decision to leave 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 added.
“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.”
Emails that were released by the US House oversight committee in 2025 reignited questions about Summers’ relationship with Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges of sex-trafficking minors. Many of the messages indicated a friendship that lasted well into 2019. Contact only ended shortly before Epstein was arrested in July of that same year.
In the emails, Summers appears to ask Epstein for advice on pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman that he describes as a mentee. In one message from 2018, Epstein refers to himself as Summers’ “wingman”.
