Larry Summers, Harvard’s former president and a former Treasury secretary, said Monday that he would be stepping back from public commitments following the release of emails between him and Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender.
“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused,” Dr. Summers said in a statement Monday. “I take full responsibility fr my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein.”
He added that he would continue teaching as an economics professor at Harvard.
The relationship between Dr. Summers and Mr. Epstein was previously known. Dr. Summers had sought money from Mr. Epstein for a poetry foundation led by his wife, Elisa New, an emerita Harvard literature professor.
But emails released last week showed a cozier relationship that included Dr. Summers seeking romantic advice and trading banter with Mr. Epstein over several years. The communications stretched to 2019, long after Mr. Epstein had pleaded guilty in 2008 to charges related to soliciting a minor for prostitution. In 2018, The Miami Herald published a deeply reported article about Mr. Epstein’s abuse of young girls. Mr. Epstein died while in custody in 2019, which was ruled a suicide.
Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Vimal Patel writes about higher education for The Times with a focus on speech and campus culture.
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