Larry Summers Asks Harvard Students for ‘Permission’ To Continue Teaching as Epstein Fallout Widens

A former president of Harvard University, Larry Summers, continues to suffer fallout from his relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, with the prominent economist resigning from yet another corporate board position following the release of email correspondence between the two men.Mr. Summers, who served as Treasury Secretary under the Clinton administration and was President Obama’s director of the National Economic Council, announced on Wednesday his departure from the board of directors at the San Francisco-based artificial intelligence company, OpenAI.“In line with my announcement to step away from my public commitments, I have also decided to resign from the board of OpenAI,” Mr. Summers stated. “I am grateful for the opportunity to have served, excited about the potential of the company and look forward to following their progress.”His position at OpenAI is just one of many roles that Mr. Summers has stepped back from in the weeks since the federal government made public more than 20,000 emails from Epstein’s estate that shed new light on Mr. Summers’ intimate relationship with the convicted sex offender.That includes his role as chairman of the board at the Center for Global Development and his board positions at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Yale’s Budget Lab, and the Brookings Institution’s Hamilton Project.Mr. Summers was also dropped from the New York Times Opinion section, where he was hired in January 2025 to serve as a contributing writer. The Times’ executive director for media relations stated on Tuesday that the outlet does not intend to renew his contract when it concludes at year-end. The released correspondence showed that Mr. Summers maintained regular contact with Epstein from 2013 through July 2019 — years after the financier’s 2008 conviction on charges involving solicitation of prostitution from a minor — exchanging messages on topics ranging from personal matters to professional advice. On several occasions Mr. Summers sought romantic counsel from Epstein, including regarding a woman he described as a mentee. “Think for now I’m going nowhere with her except economics mentor,” Mr. Summers wrote in November 2018. “I think I’m right now in the seen very warmly in rear view mirror category.”In one 2018 exchange, Epstein went as far as to refer to himself as Mr. Summers’ “wing man.” Mr. Summers’ was married at the time. The final email between the two was sent just one day before federal authorities arrested Epstein on new sex-trafficking charges in July 2019.Although Mr. Summers shared his plans to retreat from all public commitments, he will continue to teach at Harvard and serve as the director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School. This semester Mr. Summers is currently teaching five courses, including two large undergraduate economics classes.Mr. Summers, however, opened a Tuesday economics class by apologizing to his students for his association with Mr. Epstein and asking for the class’s “permission” to “go forward and talk about the material” for the course.“Some of you will have seen my statement of regret expressing my shame with respect to what I did in communication with Mr. Epstein and I’ve said I’m going to step back from public activities for a while,” Mr. Summers said in a video taken by a Harvard student and posted to social media. “But I think it’s very important that I fulfill my teaching obligations.”Also on Tuesday the chairman of Harvard’s economics department, Elie Tamer, sent an email to students expressing his regret for “the recent items that you have read about our faculty members.” Mr. Tamer, who refrained from directly naming Mr. Summers, apologized to students who “are hurt, angry or simply exhausted by the news” and emphasized the school’s commitment to creating a community where “students can learn, research, and work without fear of favoritism, coercion, or retaliation.” “We have been through a lot this past year and again, to you our students I say: you belong here,” he added. “You deserve advisors who champion your work and a community that chooses integrity. If you need anything-clarity, or simply a human conversation — ask. I will show up.” Harvard, meanwhile, announced its decision to open a new investigation into Mr. Summers, who served as president from 2001 to 2006, and his relationship with Epstein. A Harvard spokesman told the Crimson on Tuesday that “the University is conducting a review of information concerning individuals at Harvard included in the newly released Jeffrey Epstein documents to evaluate what actions may be warranted.”Several other Harvard figures were also featured in the files, including Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz, who served on Epstein’s legal team in a 2008 criminal case, and Mr. Summers’ wife, professor Elisa New.While Epstein did not attend Harvard as a student, he maintained a close relationship with the school and donated at least $30 million as part of a series of anonymous gifts. A Crimson article from 2003 notes that Epstein “counts a number of professors” among “his bevy of eminent friends.”

Larry Summers Asks Harvard Students for ‘Permission’ To Continue Teaching as Epstein Fallout Widens

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