Larry Summers Resigns from Harvard Professorship
Former Harvard University president Larry Summers has decided to resign from his role as a professor, following his notable connections to Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender.
Summers has submitted his resignation and will take a leave for the rest of the academic year, after which he will officially step down from all university responsibilities, as confirmed by a Harvard spokesperson. He addressed his resignation in a statement to the Harvard Crimson.
Emails that were disclosed by Congress revealed that Summers maintained communication with Epstein even after Epstein’s guilty plea in 2008, which was regarding charges of supporting underage prostitution, and up until his arrest in 2019. Previously, Summers, who co-directed Harvard’s Mossava Rahmani Center for Business and Government, had already stopped teaching after a video surfaced showing him apologizing for his ties to Epstein, labeling the relationship as “misguided.”
“With no formal responsibilities left, I look forward to continuing my research and commentary on various global economic topics,” Summers remarked in his statement. He also shared that stepping down was a challenging decision, but he feels “grateful” for the many students and colleagues he has engaged with since he joined Harvard as a graduate student about fifty years ago.
Harvard Kennedy School Dean Jeremy Weinstein has accepted Summers’ resignation from his leadership role as co-director of the Mossabah Rahmani Center for Business and Government. Jason Newton, from Harvard’s media relations, communicated this to the news foundation.
As reported, Summers will resign from all academic appointments at the university and has no intention of pursuing new teaching or advisory roles.
Epstein allegedly exploited Harvard and other esteemed institutions to hide his criminal activities. He manipulated search engine results to highlight his donations to these universities while downplaying his 2008 legal troubles. Notably, he funded a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) lab that explored controversial ideas involving “child-sized sex robots” as a means of treating pedophiles, amidst serious downplaying of child sex crimes.
