NEED TO KNOW

• Harvard professor Larry Summers told students this week that he plans to continue teaching despite the recent release of emails linking him to Jeffrey Epstein

• Last week, the House Oversight Committee released more than 20,000 documents from Epstein’s estate, which included email correspondence

• Emails showed that Summers kept in touch with Epstein, seeking romantic advice and bemoaning cancel culture, until the day before his July 2019 arrest

Former Harvard president and current government and economics professor Larry Summers told his students this week that he intends to continue teaching, despite recent damning revelations about his correspondence with convicted sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Summers addressed the students in his introductory economics course, “The Political Economy of Globalization,” on Tuesday, Nov. 18, following the release of a new batch of Epstein emails that showed he had allegedly corresponded with the late billionaire for years, right up until the day before Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges in July 2019.

While he announced that he would be stepping back from public engagements following the release of the emails, Summers told at least one of his classes that he planned to continue teaching. According to Harvard’s course catalog, he is instructing four courses during the fall semester, both undergrad and graduate.

Video from Summers’ Tuesday morning lecture  — which was corroborated by two students’ statements to the Boston Globe  — showed that he opened the class by announcing, “Some of you will have seen my statement of regret, expressing my shame with respect to what I did in communication with Mr. Epstein, and that I’ve said that I’m going to step back from public activity part time.

“But I think it’s very important to fulfill my teaching obligation,” Summers continued. “And so, with your permission, we’re going to go forward and talk about the material in the class.”

Later that day, Harvard announced it would be opening a new investigation into ties between Epstein and university affiliates.

Last week, the Harvard Crimson broke down Summers’ emails to Epstein, in which he expressed his beliefs that women were less intelligent than men, and bemoaned cancel culture: “Hit on a few women 10 years ago and [you] can’t work at a network or think tank.”

In another exchange, Summers sought romantic advice from Epstein about a woman he was pursuing.

“I dint [sic] want to be in a gift giving competition while being the friend without benefits,” he wrote, adding, “she must be very confused or maybe wants to cut me off but wants professional connection a lot and so holds to it.”

Epstein supported Summers’ efforts in playing it cool with the unnamed woman, telling him “no whining showed strength” and speculating that she was making him “pay for past errors.”

In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting a person under 18 for prostitution. He served much of his 13-year sentence in work release at his office. Then, in July 2019, he was arrested again, this time on federal sex trafficking allegations connected to girls as young as 14. According to a federal indictment unsealed at the time, Epstein “sexually exploited and abused dozens of minor girls at his homes.”

The disgraced financier was charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors, for which he pleaded not guilty. He would have faced a maximum sentence of 45 years in prison if convicted; however, one month later, he died by suicide in a New York City jail.

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Prominent leaders, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, have called on Harvard to take swifter action to keep Summers out of classrooms due to his connection with Epstein and handling of the fallout.

“Larry Summers has demonstrated that he cannot be trusted. Period. That includes no trust for the advice he gives or for teaching students anywhere,” Warren told the Globe. “It’s not just about Harvard, it’s about any place. Larry Summers has demonstrated how unfit he is for positions of trust, and that applies to corporate boards, universities and policy makers.”

While he has stated his plan to remain at Harvard for now, Summers did resign his position on the board of OpenAI on Wednesday, Nov. 19.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to have served, excited about the potential of the company, and look forward to following their progress,” he said in his statement. “I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused. I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein.”

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