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Former Harvard President Lawerence H. Summers will step back from all public commitments in an effort “to rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me,” he wrote in a statement Monday evening.
The announcement comes less than one week after seven years of correspondence between Summers and the disgraced financier Jeffrey E. Epstein were released by Republicans on the House Oversight Committee. The messages showed Summers and Epstein continued to exchange messages until July 5, 2019 — just one day before Epstein was arrested on new sex-trafficking charges.
“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused. I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein,” Summers wrote to The Crimson.
He is currently a senior fellow at the left-leaning think tank Center for American Progress, a paid columnist at Bloomberg News, and serves on the board of directors at Open AI. A spokesperson for Bloomberg declined to comment on Summers’ future with the outlet on Monday.
“While continuing to fulfill my teaching obligations, I will be stepping back from public commitments as one part of my broader effort,” he added in his statement.
In the hundreds of messages exchanged by Summers and Epstein — part of a cache of 23,000 documents released by the House Oversight Committee last week — Summers placed an extraordinary degree of trust in Epstein, confiding to him about his pursuit of a romantic relationship with an economist.
His decision comes less than one day after The Crimson published a detailed account of Summers’ messages with Epstein concerning the woman, who Summers described to Epstein as a mentee.
In one November 2018 message to Epstein, Epstein described himself as Summers’ “wing man,” before continuing to advise Summers on the relationship for months. In June 2019, the two men joked about the probability that Summers would have sex with the woman.
Summers currently holds Harvard’s highest faculty distinction as a University Professor. He also serves as the director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Summers will continue to direct the center, according to his spokesperson.
This semester, Summers is teaching five Harvard courses, including two large undergraduate classes, according to the University’s course search portal.
Summers has already faced a wave of backlash over his exchanges with Epstein. Earlier on Monday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) publicly called on the University to cut ties with Summers. The Justice Department has also moved to open an investigation into Epstein’s relationship with Summers and other prominent figures.
—Staff writer Dhruv T. Patel can be reached at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @dhruvtkpatel.
—Staff writer Elise A. Spenner can be reached at elise.spenner@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X at @EliseSpenner.
—Staff writer Cam N. Srivastava can be reached at cam.srivastava@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @camsrivastava.
