Larry Summers will step away from his Harvard teaching duties after emails released by the House Oversight Committee revealed a closer relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. His co-instructors will finish the remaining three class sessions this semester, and he is not scheduled to teach next term while he takes leave from his Kennedy School directorship. The messages show Summers seeking Epstein's personal advice and include comments comparing women’s intelligence to men’s—echoing remarks that contributed to his 2006 resignation as Harvard president. Senator Elizabeth Warren has publicly urged Harvard to cut ties, calling his judgment "monumentally" poor.
Larry Summers Steps Back from Harvard Teaching Role After Epstein Emails Surface
Larry Summers will step away from his Harvard teaching duties after emails released by the House Oversight Committee revealed a closer relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. His co-instructors will finish the remaining three class sessions this semester, and he is not scheduled to teach next term while he takes leave from his Kennedy School directorship. The messages show Summers seeking Epstein's personal advice and include comments comparing women’s intelligence to men’s—echoing remarks that contributed to his 2006 resignation as Harvard president. Senator Elizabeth Warren has publicly urged Harvard to cut ties, calling his judgment "monumentally" poor.
11:37 AM, 11/21/2025Politics
Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers is stepping away from his teaching duties at Harvard University after newly released emails revealed a closer relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
A spokesperson for Summers said his co-instructors will complete the remaining three class sessions this semester and that he is not scheduled to teach next semester. Summers will also take a leave from his role as director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School while the university conducts a review.
What the emails show
The correspondence, made public by the House Oversight Committee, includes years of personal emails between Summers and Epstein. The messages show Summers seeking Epstein's advice about how to pursue a romantic relationship with a woman he described as his mentee. In a separate exchange, Summers suggested that women have a lower IQ than men.
Those remarks echo earlier comments that provoked intense criticism in 2005 and helped precipitate Summers' resignation as Harvard's president in 2006.
Background and reactions
Records previously linked Summers to Epstein: flight logs and scheduling documents place Summers on Epstein's plane and calendar in the mid-2010s. In a statement this week, Summers said he was "deeply ashamed" of his conduct and the pain it caused, and that he would step back from public commitments to "repair relationships with the people closest" to him.
"I think it's very important to fulfill my teaching obligations," Summers told students in a short video message, saying he intended to meet his classroom responsibilities.
The revelations have prompted public calls for Harvard to sever ties with Summers. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who taught at Harvard Law School for many years, said the association "demonstrates monumentally bad judgment" and argued that Summers should not be trusted to advise leaders or teach future generations.
Harvard has launched a review of the matter. Summers remains on leave from his Kennedy School directorship while that review is underway.