Larry Summers Resigns From Harvard After Epstein Email Disclosures Trigger Review

Feb 25, 2026

Larry Summers will resign from his Harvard teaching and academic appointments at the end of the academic year as the university reviews his connections to Jeffrey Epstein, according to Harvard confirmation reported by The Associated Press.

The decision lands in a moment when institutions are under fresh pressure to explain why prominent figures maintained contact with Epstein after his 2008 conviction, and how those relationships were handled internally.

Reuters reported that newly released records include personal correspondence between Summers and Epstein and said there is no evidence of wrongdoing by Summers in the coverage it cited.

But the disclosures created a reputational problem Harvard is still trying to contain, especially as outside reporting describes a relationship that continued for years and at times drifted into personal advice and social matchmaking.

“I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein,” Summers said previously, as cited by Le Monde.

Harvard’s actions around Summers have unfolded in stages: he took leave during the review and stepped down from a leadership role at Harvard Kennedy School’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, according to Reuters and local reporting.

The broader pattern is what keeps the story moving: Epstein’s documented outreach to powerful people, and universities’ ongoing efforts to show they are policing past ties and donations, while the public watches for consistency across cases.

Harvard has not publicly closed its review, and Summers’ departure sets up the next test—whether the university releases clearer findings, and whether additional faculty or affiliates face decisions as more records are examined.

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