Larry Summers, the former U.S. Treasury Secretary and ex-President of Harvard University, has announced his retirement from all academic positions at the Ivy League institution. This decision follows the university’s internal review concerning his associations with the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Harvard University confirmed it has accepted Summers’s resignation from his role as co-director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government. Additionally, he will retire from all other faculty and academic appointments. The move concludes a prestigious five-decade association with the university that began when Summers was a graduate student.
The controversy stems from released email correspondence indicating Summers maintained communication with Epstein until just before Epstein’s 2019 arrest on charges of sex trafficking minors. Last November, Summers voluntarily took leave from his positions as Harvard initiated its investigation, which coincided with Congressional release of over 20,000 pages of documents related to Epstein, including communications with Summers.
In a previous address to Harvard students, Summers expressed regret regarding his associations with Epstein. In his retirement statement to The Harvard Crimson, Summers described the decision as “difficult” while expressing gratitude for the thousands of students and colleagues he has worked with throughout his career. He indicated plans to continue engaging in economic analysis and commentary as President Emeritus and retired professor.