Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
Harvard students want Larry Summers’ tenure revoked
Former Harvard President Larry Summers regularly communicated with Jeffrey Epstein, recently-released emails show.
Last week, former U.S. Treasury Secretary and Harvard president Larry Summers said he would be retreating from the public eye after new ties to Jeffrey Epstein were revealed in a release of emails. Now, a group of Harvard students are pushing for the university to take a drastic move: revoking Summers’ tenure.
A petition urging Harvard to “shut out Summers” is circulating online, and has already reportedly been signed by hundreds of people. The effort is being coordinated by a group called the Harvard Feminist Coalition.
“With the newest release of emails, including Summers’ communication with Epstein about abusing power as a professor in pursuing sex with a mentee, it confirms what survivors and Harvard community members have said for years: Summers is unfit and unsafe to teach at Harvard,” the group wrote in the petition.
Advertisement:
Organizers say they are preparing to hand-deliver the petition to administrators and that anyone can sign, even if they are not affiliated with Harvard. They assert that Summers’ ties to Epstein have been “well-documented for years.” Student protesters covered the iconic John Harvard statue with printouts of pictures and emails that apparently show proof of the longstanding relationship between the two last week.
Earlier this month, lawmakers released some 20,000 pages of documents from the Epstein estate. They revealed how Summers and Epstein regularly communicated with each other between 2017 and 2019. The two often discussed President Donald Trump, but much of the correspondence also revolved around Summers’ interactions with a woman living in London. Epstein appeared to offer advice to Summers about pursuing the woman romantically.
Advertisement:
A 2023 report in The Wall Street Journal detailed Epstein’s relationships to a number of notable people, including Summers. Summers reportedly turned to Epstein for help funding an online poetry project that his wife was working on. Epstein donated millions to Harvard during Summers’ tenure as president from 2001 to 2006. The two continued to meet well after Harvard decided to reject donations from Epstein following his 2008 plea deal.
Summers and his wife Elisa New flew to Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean shortly after their 2005 wedding, The Boston Globe recently reported.
“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused,” Summers said in a statement to the Globe after the recent release of emails. “I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein.”
Summers has not been accused of wrongdoing in the Epstein case.
He initially said that he would be “stepping back” from public commitments but continue teaching at Harvard. Amid continued outrage, Summers decided to go on leave and give up his teaching duties. He has not resigned.
Harvard completed a review of Epstein’s donations in 2020, but recently launched a new investigation into connections with Epstein in light of the new emails that were released, per The Harvard Crimson.
Advertisement:
The organizers who wrote the petition also said that Summers’ “blatant misogyny and racism towards students is also well-documented.” They cited his resignation in 2006 and comments he made beforehand about the supposed innate differences between men and women.
Summers has been a Harvard faculty member since 1983, and served as director of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government.
The university rarely revokes tenure, but did so earlier this year when professor Francesca Gino was accused of fabricating data in academic papers. Gino has denied the allegations. It was the first time in decades that Harvard revoked a professor’s tenure.
The Harvard Feminist Coalition said that the university needs to investigate and cut ties with “all people participating or complicit in Epstein’s abuse.”
“Any one complicit in sexual violence, especially against young women and girls, should not teach at Harvard. It’s time Harvard [fights] for justice and protection for survivors and students, not predators and their accomplices,” the group wrote.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com