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Summers, who has been on leave since November, will not return to teaching before he leaves the university.
Lawrence Summers at his home in Brookline, Mass., on June 22, 2021. David Degner/New York Times
February 25, 2026 | 12:17 PM
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Lawrence H. Summers, a Harvard University economist and the school’s former president, will resign from teaching at the end of the academic year, according to a Harvard spokesperson.
The announcement comes after documents released by the Department of Justice showed a close relationship between Summers and Jeffrey Epstein long after Epstein was convicted of prostitution involving a minor.
Summers, who has been on leave since November, will not return to teaching before he leaves the university. He has also resigned as co-director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, the spokesperson said. His resignation comes “in connection with the ongoing review by the University of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein that were recently released by the government,” the spokesperson, Jason Newton, said in a statement.
The announcement was first reported by The Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper.
Summers said in a statement that he had made “the difficult decision” to retire, and he “will always be grateful to the thousands of students and colleagues I have been privileged to teach and work with since coming to Harvard as a graduate student 50 years ago.”
As president emeritus and a retired professor, he said, he looks forward to “engaging in research, analysis and commentary on a range of global economic issues.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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