CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Former Treasury secretary and economist Larry Summers said Wednesday he has resigned as co-director of a Harvard Kennedy School center and will retire from teaching at Harvard at the end of the academic year. The move comes as Harvard reviews newly released documents detailing Summers’ ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Feb. 25, 2026.
In a statement carried by Reuters, Larry Summers said he had made the “difficult decision” to retire from his Harvard professorship at the end of the academic year, adding that he remained grateful for decades of teaching and research at the university.
Harvard spokesperson Jason Newton said Harvard Kennedy School Dean Jeremy Weinstein accepted Summers’ resignation from the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government “in connection with the ongoing review” of Epstein-related documents, according to Harvard Magazine. Newton said Summers will remain on leave until he retires from his academic and faculty appointments at the end of the school year.
The resignation from the center is effective immediately, and Summers will not teach or take on new advisees while the review continues, The Washington Post reported.
Summers stepped back from public commitments in November after the House Oversight Committee released documents showing he stayed in touch with Epstein for years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction, and he resigned from OpenAI’s board around the same time, according to CBS News. Harvard said no evidence has surfaced that Summers engaged in wrongdoing.
Larry Summers steps down from the Mossavar-Rahmani center
Harvard’s announcement focuses on the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, based at the Harvard Kennedy School. The school did not immediately name an interim replacement for Summers’ co-director role Wednesday.
Newton said Weinstein accepted Summers’ resignation as Harvard reviews documents “recently released by the government.” The university has not outlined a timeline for the review or said what steps, beyond leaves and resignations, it is considering.
Why Larry Summers is leaving: Epstein documents and Harvard’s review
Scrutiny of Larry Summers escalated last fall after a cache of communications attributed to Epstein showed the men exchanging messages on personal and professional topics years after Epstein’s first criminal case. Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 in Florida and was arrested in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges before his death in jail.
Summers said in November he was “deeply ashamed” and took “full responsibility” for continuing to communicate with Epstein. Harvard’s current review is also part of a longer-running institutional effort to revisit Epstein’s ties to the university as new information becomes public.
A timeline of Harvard’s Epstein scrutiny
- September 2019: Harvard publicly disclosed that Epstein had donated nearly $9 million to the university before his 2008 guilty plea, as a 2019 Guardian report summarized.
- May 2020: An official university review later confirmed Harvard received $9.1 million in gifts from Epstein between 1998 and 2008 and said remaining unspent funds were directed to organizations supporting victims of trafficking and sexual assault, according to then-President Lawrence S. Bacow’s statement releasing the report.
- November 2025: After the release of additional Epstein files, Harvard announced a new probe into Harvard affiliates named in the documents, including Summers, Reuters reported.
In announcing his retirement, Larry Summers is moving beyond the leave he took in November and stepping away from classroom and advising responsibilities as Harvard weighs whether the review warrants broader action.
What’s next for Larry Summers and Harvard
Summers is among the most prominent economists of his generation, with a career split between academia and economic policymaking. He served as treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton and was Harvard’s president from 2001 to 2006 before returning to the faculty.
Even as he withdraws from formal duties, Summers signaled he intends to remain active in economic research and public debate, saying he looked forward to continuing “research, analysis, and commentary” as a retired professor and president emeritus.
Harvard did not announce additional steps involving Summers beyond confirming his leave through the end of the academic year. The university’s broader Epstein review remains ongoing.
