 "Larry Summers is the President Emeritus of Harvard and the Charles W Eliot University Professor. Image courtesy: https://larrysummers.com/")
Larry Summers, the former president of Harvard University, will stop teaching while the university investigates his connection to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, a spokesperson for Summers said on Wednesday.
The decision follows the release of emails by the US House oversight committee, which reignited questions about Summers’ relationship with Epstein , who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges of sex-trafficking minors. Many of the newly released messages indicated a friendship that continued into 2019, with communication only ceasing shortly before Epstein’s arrest in July of that year.
Steven Goldberg, Summers’ spokesperson, told the Harvard Crimson that Summers, an economist and former US treasury secretary, is “not scheduled to teach next semester,” and that his co-teachers will take over the remaining classes of the current semester.
“Mr Summers has decided it’s in the best interest of the center for him to go on leave from his role as director as Harvard undertakes its review,” Goldberg said. Summers will also take immediate leave from his role as the director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School, a position he has held since 2011.
What did the email contain?
This announcement came just days after Summers said he would step back from public commitments in light of the resurfaced messages with Epstein but would continue to teach.
Quick Reads
View AllIn the emails, Summers appears to ask Epstein for advice on pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he describes as a mentee. In one message from 2018, Epstein refers to himself as Summers’ “wingman.”
Many of the newly released messages indicated a friendship that continued into 2019, with communication only ceasing shortly before Epstein’s arrest in July of that year.
Summers resigns from OpenAI board
Earlier on Wednesday, Summers resigned from the board of the 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,” Summers said in a statement. “I am grateful for the opportunity to have served, excited about the potential of the company, and look forward to following their progress.”
Summers has also stepped down or been let go from several other prominent positions in recent days, including roles at the Center for Global Development, the Peterson Institute for International Economics, the Budget Lab at Yale, and the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution.
Harvard University had previously conducted an investigation into its ties with Epstein, discovering that Epstein donated about $9 million to the school between 1998 and 2008.