By Douglas Belkin

Former Harvard University President Larry Summers is resigning from his teaching and leadership positions at the university, in the latest fallout from his association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The announcement, which follows the release of emails between the two men, marks a formal break with the university with which Summers had been associated since he was a graduate student and then tenured professor in economics before serving as its president from 2001 to 2006.

A former Treasury Secretary and one of the foremost economists of his era, Summers had already stepped back from duties at Harvard and several other organizations including the New York Times, Bloomberg and OpenAI. He has been on leave from Harvard since November.

Jason Newton, a spokesman for Harvard, said the school had accepted Summers's resignation as co-director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government "in connection with the ongoing review by the university of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein that were recently released by the government."

Summers will retire from his academic and faculty posts at Harvard at the end of this academic year and will remain on leave until then, the spokesman added.

Summers called the decision "difficult" and expressed his gratitude to his students and colleagues.

"Free of formal responsibility, as President Emeritus and a retired professor, I look forward in time to engaging in research, analysis, and commentary on a range of global economic issues," Summers said in a statement.

Write to Douglas Belkin at Doug.Belkin@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 25, 2026 12:49 ET (17:49 GMT)

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