Lawrence Summers will resign from Harvard after Epstein revelations
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Mr Lawrence H. Summers, a Harvard University economist and the school’s former president, has been on leave since November 2025.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Mark Arsenault
MASSACHUSETTS - Mr Lawrence H. Summers, a Harvard University economist and the school’s former president, will resign from teaching at the end of the academic year, according to a Harvard spokesperson.
The announcement comes months after documents released by the Department of Justice showed a close relationship between Mr Summers and Jeffrey Epstein long after Epstein was convicted of prostitution involving a minor.
Mr Summers, who has been on leave since November 2025, will not return to teaching before he leaves the university.
He has also resigned as co-director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, the spokesperson said.
His resignation comes “in connection with the ongoing review by the University of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein that were recently released by the government,” the spokesperson, Mr Jason Newton, said in a statement.
The announcement was first reported by The Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper.
Harvard also confirmed on Feb 25 that Mr Martin A. Nowak, a professor of mathematics and of biology, who has a long documented history with Epstein, has been placed on administrative leave “pending further investigation by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences”.
Mr Summers, a former US treasury secretary and one of the nation’s best known economists, said in a statement that he had made “the difficult decision” to retire, and he “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”.
As president emeritus and a retired professor, he said, he looks forward to “engaging in research, analysis and commentary on a range of global economic issues”.
Mr Nowak did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr Summers’ resignation is the culmination of a cascade of new revelations in recent months about the nature of his relationship with Epstein, the disgraced financier who died by suicide in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges.
Mr Summers’ link to Epstein had been known for years, but emails released in November 2025 by a congressional committee revealed that they had maintained a deeply personal relationship, even after Epstein became a registered sex offender. NYTIMES
