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Lawrence Summers has announced he will retire from teaching at Harvard University, as the former US Treasury secretary continues to retreat from public roles following revelations of his ties to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“I have made the difficult decision to retire from my Harvard professorship at the end of this academic year,” Summers said on Wednesday. The university’s graduation day is in late May.
In November he announced he had stepped down from the board of OpenAI following the release of emails by a House of Representatives committee that showed the economist had solicited advice from Epstein on pursuing a relationship with a female mentee.
Summers in November said he intended to continue working as a professor at Harvard, where he also served as president from 2001-2006, telling students at the time that he considered it “very important to fulfil my teaching obligations”.
In the days following his OpenAI decision, Summers said he was “deeply ashamed” of his actions and took “full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr Epstein”.
Summers, who used to write for the FT, also last autumn withdrew from roles at several think-tanks including The Budget Lab at Yale, the Center for American Progress, the Center for Global Development and The Hamilton Project. The New York Times in November said it would not renew his contract as a columnist.
Documents released in December showed Epstein appointed Summers and former Barclays chief executive Jes Staley as the executors of his estate.
Summers on Wednesday said 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, I look forward in time to engaging in research, analysis and commentary on a range of global economic issues,” he said.
