Harvard professor and former university president Larry Summers is leaving the college amid continued scrutiny over ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
A Harvard spokesperson confirmed his departure Wednesday morning, saying that Summers is retiring from his academic and faculty appointments at the end of the school year. The onetime U.S. Treasury Secretary is also resigning from a leadership role he held with the Harvard Kennedy School.
“In connection with the ongoing review by the University of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein that were recently released by the government, Harvard Kennedy School Dean Jeremy Weinstein has accepted Professor Lawrence H. Summers’ resignation from his leadership position as co-director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government,” the university wrote in a statement.
Summers went on leave last fall when emails between himself and Epstein were released that revealed a close friendship in which Summers asked for relationship advice from the convicted sex offender.
He issued a statement Wednesday elaborating on his departure from Harvard.
“I have made the difficult decision to retire from my Harvard professorship at the end of this academic year,” wrote Summers.
“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.
“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 wrote.
A Harvard spokesperson says that ahead of his retirement, Summers will not resume teaching or take on new students to advise — something senior Jessica Wang welcomes.
“It’s a huge relief, I think, for students, but at the same time it feels like a long time coming,” said Wang, 21, a member of the campus Feminist Coalition. “On one hand, I’m very happy that no female student will have to be advised by him, but there never should have been an institutional administrative framework that allowed this to happen.”
Wang said while she is thrilled Summers is no longer teaching, the university must make a broader cultural shift in how the campus community talks about gender and gender-based violence.
The university says he will not hold the status of professor emeritus.
