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Larry Summers quits Harvard teaching amid Epstein probe [1]

['Ellsworth Toohey']

Date: 2025-11-20  

Larry Summers is stepping away from teaching at Harvard University while the school investigates his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The move came hours after Summers quit OpenAI's board, marking a rapid unraveling of the former Treasury Secretary's public roles.

Newly released emails from a House committee show Summers and Epstein exchanged cozy messages even after Epstein served jail time for sex crimes involving minors. The correspondence included discussions about a woman Summers was romantically interested in — despite being married. Epstein described himself as Summers's "wingman" in the emails.

As reported in The New York Times, Summers addressed students in a lecture hall on Tuesday, saying: "Some of you will have seen my statement of regret, expressing my shame with respect to what I did in communication with Mr. Epstein. And that I've said that I'm going to step back from public activities, but — for a time — but that I think it's very important that I fulfill my teaching obligations."

He changed his mind the next day.

Summers is also leaving his position as director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School, though he will retain his tenured status. His co-teachers will finish his classes this semester.

The former Harvard president has cut ties with multiple organizations this week, including the Center for American Progress, the Center for Global Development, and The New York Times Opinion section, which announced it won't renew his contract as a contributing writer.

Senator Elizabeth Warren called on Harvard to completely sever ties with Summers following the email revelations.

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