Politics & Policy

Summers leaves Harvard as Epstein reckoning rocks academia

Add Axios as your preferred source to

see more of our stories on Google.

Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios

Former Harvard president Larry Summers announced Wednesday he will resign his positions at the university following backlash to his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

*Why it matters: *Epstein had deep ties to several donors and academics, prompting U.S. colleges and universities to reckon with revelations from recently released documents about investigations into his activities.

Read more about Epstein accountability in higher education:

Harvard University

Driving the news: Summers said he made the "difficult decision" to resign from his academic and faculty appointments at the end of the academic year. He will remain on leave until then, per a Harvard spokesperson.

• He also resigned as co-director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government.
• Summers will not be teaching or taking on new advisees.

*Flashback: *Summers also resigned from the OpenAI board in response to the Epstein fallout.

• President Trump and Harvard both said they'd launch investigations into Summers.

Columbia University

*Zoom out: *Molecular biologist Richard Axel on Tuesday stepped down as co-director of Columbia University's Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute. He also resigned as an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

• "My past association with Jeffrey Epstein was a serious error in judgment, which I deeply regret…" Axel saidin a statement. "What has emerged about Epstein's appalling conduct, the harm that he has caused to so many people, makes my association with him all the more painful and inexcusable." - The university said it has not seen evidence that Axel violated the law. He will continue to focus on research and teaching.

Bard College

*What we're watching: *Bard College president Leon Botstein is being reviewed by an outside law firm after the Epstein files "raised questions" about communications between the two men, per an email from the college's board of trustees to the campus community.

• "We recognize — and feel — how difficult this moment is for our community and the pain and concern that it has caused," the email said.

Yale University

*Context: *Computer science professor David Gelernter will not teach classes at Yale University while the school reviews his conduct. In an email to Epstein recommending a student for a job, Gelernter described her as a "v small good-looking blonde."

• Gelernter defendedhis message and said he was keeping "the potential boss's habits in mind."

*Go deeper: *Epstein revelations spur calls to scrape Lutnick's name from college library