拉里·萨默斯将辞去教职和哈佛肯尼迪学院的职务，此前哈佛大学正在调查他与爱泼斯坦的关系
【中美创新时报2025年11月19日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）据《波士顿环球报》报道，拉里·萨默斯的发言人证实，由于哈佛大学正在调查他与已被定罪的性犯罪者杰弗里·爱泼斯坦的关系，萨默斯将立即辞去他在哈佛大学的教职。《波士顿环球报》记者Aidan Ryan, Claire Thornton, Jim Puzzanghera, Deirdre Fernandes, Tricia L. Nadolny and Nick Stoico对此作了下述报道。
发言人补充说，萨默斯还将暂时卸任肯尼迪学院莫萨瓦尔-拉赫马尼商业与政府中心主任一职。
发言人在一份声明中表示：“萨默斯先生认为，为了中心的利益，他应该暂时卸任主任一职，等待哈佛大学的审查。”
上周国会委员会公布的电子邮件显示，萨默斯（该大学最高教职人员）在爱泼斯坦于 2019 年被捕之前与他保持着密切联系。
本周早些时候，萨默斯宣布他将卸任其他公共职务，包括在美国进步中心等机构和智库以及 OpenAI 董事会的职务，但他将继续教书。
但在哈佛大学面临越来越大的压力，要求其与萨默斯断绝关系之际，他做出了决定—— 《哈佛深红报》率先报道了这一决定——不再完成本学期的教学工作。
发言人补充说：“他的合作教师将完成他本学期与他们一起教授的课程的剩余三节课，他下学期没有授课安排。”
一位发言人澄清说，萨默斯并未辞去在哈佛大学的任何职务，而只是在大学进行调查期间暂时离职。哈佛大学发言人告诉《波士顿环球报》，萨默斯也已将他的决定告知了大学。
根据哈佛大学的课程目录，他今年秋季开设了四门课程，其中一些是与其他教授合教的。目录显示，这些课程的主题涵盖全球化、美国经济学和宏观经济政策等领域。
就在几个小时前，参议员伊丽莎白·沃伦再次猛烈抨击了萨默斯，两人在经济政策上一直存在分歧。萨默斯此前告诉学生他计划继续在哈佛大学任教。在萨默斯宣布这一决定后，沃伦在接受《波士顿环球报》采访时表示，是否继续留在哈佛大学并非萨默斯本人所能决定。
“拉里·萨默斯已经证明他不可信。就这么简单。这包括不信任他提供的建议，也不信任他教的任何东西，”哈佛大学法学院荣誉退休教授沃伦说道。
沃伦表示，哈佛大学以及任何其他与萨默斯有关联的机构是否应该终止与他的关系，“关乎他们自身的诚信”。
萨默斯此前曾于2001年至2006年担任哈佛大学校长，最终因争议而辞职。他于1983年首次加入哈佛大学，担任经济学教授。
他与爱泼斯坦的关系可以追溯到几十年前，早在上周议员们公布那批邮件之前就已经被披露。但新公布的邮件显示，他与爱泼斯坦的联系究竟有多么广泛。
据《波士顿环球报》周二报道，哈佛大学诗歌系荣休教授、萨默斯的妻子伊丽莎·纽也曾与爱泼斯坦通信，其中包括一笔由爱泼斯坦促成的数额可观的捐赠。这笔捐赠并未被纳入哈佛大学2020年关于爱泼斯坦与该校关系的报告中，但哈佛大学发言人在回应《波士顿环球报》的提问时表示，学校将对爱泼斯坦与近期公布的邮件中提及的大学人士之间的关系展开新的审查。
爱泼斯坦是一名金融家，与包括特朗普总统和英国前安德鲁王子在内的知名人士关系密切。他于2019年因联邦性交易罪被捕，一个月后在狱中死亡，官方认定为自杀。
周二，萨默斯在他的经济学入门课上告诉学生们，虽然他后悔与爱泼斯坦通信，但他计划继续教书。
据《环球报》查阅的课堂录像显示，他告诉学生们：“我认为履行我的教学职责非常重要。所以，如果你们允许，我们将继续讨论课堂内容。”
在萨默斯周三晚宣布决定之前，几名哈佛学生表示，他在学校的去留问题已经在校园内引起了广泛讨论。
“学生们说，考虑到他已经获得了终身教职，如果他要停止教学，那一定是辞职，”丹尼尔·拉波因特说道，他是一名大四学生，也是萨默斯教授全球化课程的学生。
其他哈佛学生也公开反对萨默斯，称有些人，尤其是女性，可能觉得向一个曾向爱泼斯坦寻求追求女性建议的男性学习不安全，而萨默斯称爱泼斯坦是他的“学员”。（爱泼斯坦对此表示同情，称自己是萨默斯的“僚机”。）
来自弗吉尼亚州斯波特西瓦尼亚县的18岁哈佛大学二年级学生弗雷德·克莱因表示，他计划主修经济学，并在该系选修了三门课程，但没有上过萨默斯教授的课。他说，学生们对学校没有叫停萨默斯教授的教学工作感到失望，并表示，萨默斯教授从哈佛大学辞职比放弃其他工作更有意义。
克莱因说：“你每周要面对100个孩子，告诉他们你是某个领域的权威，而你其实并不具备这种权威性，这会让你更容易受到公众关注。所以，从现在开始，我会密切关注哈佛的动向。”
哈佛大学周二宣布启动新的调查，此前《波士顿环球报》报道了爱泼斯坦为萨默斯的妻子从一位华尔街知名金融家那里促成的一笔捐款。纽在2015年告诉爱泼斯坦，这笔捐款“改变了”她在哈佛的一切，但哈佛大学律师在2020年发布的一份关于该校与爱泼斯坦关系的报告中并未提及此事。
有人认为哈佛大学早就应该进行更深入的审查了。
“这是必要的，”哈佛大学经济系副教授雷切尔·麦克利里说道，萨默斯目前仍在哈佛大学任教。
麦克利里表示，她和哈佛大学的其他一些人对一些新公布的电子邮件的内容感到震惊，尤其是萨默斯和爱泼斯坦之间的邮件。
“对这些教职员工的行为进行审查是完全合理的，”麦克利里说。
曾为多所大学完成多项调查的高等教育律师斯科特·施耐德表示，从哈佛大学的报告中，你根本不会知道萨默斯曾接受过之前的调查采访。考虑到萨默斯在哈佛大学的地位以及他与爱泼斯坦的长期联系，施耐德对此感到很奇怪。
得知萨默斯确实接受了采访后，施耐德想知道为什么爱泼斯坦代表纽促成的捐款被遗漏了。
“我认为有三种可能。第一，萨默斯没有披露此事，可能是故意的，也可能是因为他不知道。第二，哈佛大学没有询问，”他说。“第三种可能是，他披露了此事，但他们没有将其写入报告。”
题图：2022年9月15日，拉里·萨默斯在哈佛肯尼迪学院接受《波士顿环球报》峰会采访。吉姆·戴维斯/《环球报》工作人员
附原英文报道：
Larry Summers to step back from teaching and Harvard Kennedy School post as university investigates ties to Epstein
By Aidan Ryan, Claire Thornton, Jim Puzzanghera, Deirdre Fernandes, Tricia L. Nadolny and Nick Stoico Globe Staff,Updated November 19, 2025
Larry Summers is shown during a Globe Summit interview at Harvard Kennedy School on September 15, 2022.Jim Davis/Globe Staff
Larry Summers is immediately stepping back from his teaching duties at Harvard University as the school investigates his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a spokesperson for Summers confirmed to the Globe.
Summers is also taking leave from his role as director of the Kennedy School’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, the spokesperson added.
“Mr. Summers has decided it’s in the best interest of the Center for him to go on leave from his role as Director as Harvard undertakes its review,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Emails released by a congressional committee last week showed that Summers — who holds the highest faculty title at the university— maintained close ties to Epstein prior to his arrest in 2019.
Earlier in the week Summers had announced he would step back from his other public commitments, which included posts at centers and think tanks such as the Center for American Progress and the board of directors at OpenAI, but would continue teaching.
But amid mounting pressure for Harvard to cut ties with Summers, he made the decision — first reported by The Harvard Crimson — not to finish teaching this semester.
“His co-teachers will complete the remaining three class sessions of the courses he has been teaching with them this semester, and he is not scheduled to teach next semester,” the spokesperson added.
A spokesperson clarified that Summers is not resigning from either post at Harvard, but is stepping away as the university conducts its investigation. Summers has also communicated his decision to the university, a Harvard spokesperson told the Globe.
He was teaching four classes this fall, according to Harvard’s course catalogue, some of which he shared with another professor. They range in topic from globalization to American economics to macroeconomic policy, according to the catalogue.
His announcement came hours after Senator Elizabeth Warren renewed her intense criticism of Summers, a longtime nemesis of hers over economic policy. In an interview with the Globe after Summers had told students he planned to continue teaching at Harvard, Warren said the decision to remain at the university was not his to make.
“Larry Summers has demonstrated that he cannot be trusted. Period. That includes no trust for the advice he gives or for teaching students anywhere,” said Warren, who is an emerita law professor at Harvard.
Warren said that “it’s a matter of their own integrity” for Harvard and any other institution affiliated with Summers to end their relationship with him.
Summers previously served as president of Harvard from 2001 to 2006, ultimately resigning amid controversy. He first joined the Harvard faculty in 1983 as an economics professor.
His ties to Epstein go back decades and had been disclosed prior to the cache of emails released last week by lawmakers. But the new emails showed just how extensive his communications with Epstein were.
Elisa New, a Harvard poetry professor emerita and wife of Summers, also corresponded with Epstein, including over a sizable gift that he helped broker, the Globe reported Tuesday. The gift was not included in Harvard’s 2020 report on Epstein’s ties to the university, but a Harvard spokesperson said in response to Globe questions that the school would begin a fresh review of ties between Epstein and university figures mentioned in the recently released emails.
Epstein, a financier who had close ties to notable figures including President Trump and the former Prince Andrew of the United Kingdom, was arrested in 2019 on federal sex trafficking crimes. He died in jail a month later in what officials ruled a suicide.
On Tuesday, Summers told students in his introductory economics class that while he regrets his correspondence with Epstein, he planned to continue teaching.
“I think it’s very important to fulfill my teaching obligations,” he told the students, according to a video recording of the class reviewed by the Globe. “And so, with your permission, we’re going to go forward and talk about the material in the class.”
Before Summers’ announcement Wednesday night, several Harvard students said his status at the school was being widely discussed on campus.
“Students are saying, with the tenure and everything, if he’s going to stop teaching, it’ll come by way of resignation,” said Daniel LaPointe, a senior and student in Summers’ class on globalization.
Other Harvard students spoke out against Summers, saying that some, particularly women, may not feel safe learning from a man who asked Epstein for romantic advice about wooing a woman Summers described as a mentee. (Epstein responded sympathetically, calling himself Summers’ “wing man.”)
Fred Klein, 18, a Harvard sophomore from Spotsylvania County, Va., said he is planning to major in economics and has taken three courses in the department, but none with Summers. He said students were disappointed the university had not put a halt to Summers’ teaching duties and said his resignation from Harvard would be more meaningful than his surrender of other commitments.
“It’s much more public-facing for you to be looking at 100 kids every week and telling them that you’re an authority on a subject when you shouldn’t be,” Klein said. “So I’ll be watching closely what Harvard does from now on.”
Harvard announced the new probe Tuesday following a Globe report on a donation Epstein brokered for Summers’ wife from a high-profile Wall Street financier. That donation, which New told Epstein in 2015 “changed everything” for her at Harvard, is not mentioned in a 2020 report by Harvard’s lawyers on the university’s ties to Epstein.
Some say a deeper review by Harvard is long overdue.
“It’s necessary,” said Rachel McCleary, an associate with the Harvard University economics department, where Summers still teaches.
McCleary said she and others at Harvard were shocked by the content of some of the newly released emails, particularly between Summers and Epstein.
“It’s totally appropriate to review the behavior of these faculty members,” McCleary said.
Scott Schneider, a higher education lawyer who has completed numerous investigations for universities, said you would never know Summers was interviewed for the previous investigation from reading the Harvard report, which he found odd given Summers’ stature at the school and longstanding connection to Epstein.
Learning that Summers was in fact interviewed, Schneider wondered how the donation that Epstein brokered on New’s behalf was omitted.
“I think it’s one of three things. One, [Summers] didn’t disclose it, either intentionally or because he didn’t know. Two, [Harvard] didn’t ask,” he said. “And then the third one is, he did disclose it and they didn’t put it in the report.”
