MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Harvard professor and economist Larry Summers announced he will resign from teaching there later this year.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
This comes after more was revealed about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Harvard is continuing to investigate Summers and others for their ties to the convicted sex offender.
MARTIN: Suevon Lee from WBUR in Boston is here to tell us more. Good morning, Suevon.
SUEVON LEE, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: So catch us up to these developments. They seem to be happening pretty rapidly.
LEE: Sure. So both Summers and Harvard announced his resignation in separate statements. Summers said his decision to retire was, quote, "difficult." He said he will be always grateful to his students and colleagues. Summers had been on academic leave since new emails with Jeffrey Epstein surfaced in November. Those emails shed more light on their tight relationship. They discussed Summers' interest in a woman outside his marriage, and they banter about Epstein being Summers' wingman. Summers had stopped teaching his fall courses and stepped back from public appearances. So for him to announce that he's retiring doesn't totally come out of left field. A Harvard spokesman said Summers' resignation comes in connection to the school's ongoing review and to the new Epstein files released by the government. Now, it's unclear what his affiliation with the school will be, but the spokesman tells me he won't receive the honorary title of professor emeritus.
MARTIN: Can we just clarify here? Is he resigning or is he just retiring sooner than perhaps was expected?
LEE: Well, Summers' statement said that he was retiring. However, the Harvard University statement said that at least the dean of the Harvard Kennedy School accepts his resignation from being a co-director at that center in connection to the school's new investigation.
MARTIN: Interesting. OK. So remind us, if you would, about why there's so much attention on Larry Summers.
LEE: Sure. So Summers is one of the most well-known figures at Harvard. He's a prominent economist. He was Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton. And he was Harvard's president for five years, starting in 2001. During his tenure, Epstein gave millions of dollars to the university. We know Summers kept up a personal correspondence with the late financier even after Epstein's first conviction in 2008. That continued until 2019, shortly before Epstein's arrest on charges of federal sex trafficking of minors. Summers hasn't been accused of any criminal wrongdoing, but the emails demonstrate the closeness he had to Epstein.
MARTIN: And are - what are other faculty there saying?
LEE: Yeah. So I've been talking with faculty since these emails came to light in November. Some applauded Harvard's decision to reopen investigations into Epstein's ties with professors. Summers' retirement doesn't come as a huge surprise. Here's Timothy Patrick McCarthy, who's among the faculty at Harvard's Kennedy School.
TIMOTHY PATRICK MCCARTHY: His high profile has become not just a distraction for Harvard to have to deal with, but the kind of pall that's been cast upon the university at a time where the university hardly needs any more burdens.
LEE: And McCarthy is referring there to what he called Trump's full frontal assault on higher ed. I also talked with Theda Skocpol, a government professor at Harvard. She told me Summers' departure is also a loss.
THEDA SKOCPOL: Despite his repeated failures of good judgment, this is somebody who has a lot to offer intellectual life and was a valued teacher by many Harvard students.
MARTIN: Not just Harvard, though. He had relationships with faculty and other academic institutions as we recall.
LEE: Right. A handful of professors and at least one college president are among the names in the Epstein files. A math professor at Harvard was just placed on administrative leave. Bard College, a small liberal arts school in New York, is investigating its longtime president Leon Botstein for emails that show a deeper friendship to Epstein. Each day is bringing new developments. It's kind of like, what consequences will be next?
MARTIN: That is WBUR's Suevon Lee. Suevon, thank you.
LEE: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
