Business
Ex-Harvard president Larry Summers stops teaching while university investigates Epstein emails
Harvard University professor Larry Summers is taking leave while the school investigates his and others’ ties with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a spokesperson confirmed.
The former US treasury secretary and onetime Harvard president will stop teaching and step back as director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School.
A spokesperson told the BBC’s US partner, CBS News, that Summers believes “it’s in the best interest of the Center”.
Recently released emails indicate that Summers corresponded with Epstein until the day before the financier’s 2019 arrest for the alleged sex trafficking of minors.
In a statement to The Harvard Crimson, the university said it was “conducting a review of information concerning individuals at Harvard included in the newly released Jeffrey Epstein documents”.
The BBC has contacted Summers for comment on Harvard’s new review.
On Tuesday, Summers addressed his communication with Epstein to students in a class he had been teaching at Harvard.
“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,” Summers told his students, according to a video recorded by a student.
“I think it’s very important to fulfill my teaching obligations. So with your permission, we’re going to go forward and talk about the material in the class.”
But on Wednesday night, Summers spokesperson Steven Goldberg said in the statement provided to CBS that “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 public fallout for Summers began after Congress released over 20,000 pages of documents from the so-called Epstein files last week, which included multiple emails between Epstein and Summers.
Time stamps from the emails showed the two communicated up until the day before Epstein’s arrest – a decade after he pleaded guilty for soliciting prostitution from an underage girl.
A married father of six, Summers messaged Epstein in November 2018 seemingly asking for romantic advice related to his interest in someone he said viewed him as an “economics mentor”.
“Think for now I’m going nowhere with her except economics mentor,” Summers wrote in one exchange where Epstein referred to himself as Summers’ “wing man”.
“Am I thanking her or being sorry re my being married. I think the former,” he wrote in another email.
The emails also indicated that Summers and Epstein dined together frequently, with Epstein often trying to connect Summers to prominent global figures.
No Epstein survivor has accused Summers of misconduct, and there is no publicly available evidence indicating that he was involved in any of Epstein’s crimes.
Summers announced earlier Wednesday that he was leaving the board of OpenAI, and the artificial intelligence company said it respected Summers’ decision to resign.
“We appreciate his many contributions and the perspective he brought to the Board,” OpenAI said.
He joined the board of OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, in 2023 – following a failed attempt to oust its chief executive, Sam Altman.
Summers said in a statement to the BBC about the move that he was “grateful for the opportunity to have served, excited about the potential of the company, and look forward to following their progress”.
After the emails were shared with the public, Summers said he took “full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr Epstein”.
He added that he wanted “to rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me”.
Summers held senior posts under two Democratic presidents; serving as treasury secretary under Bill Clinton, and as director of the National Economic Council under Barack Obama. He led Harvard from 2001 to 2006 and remains a professor there.
The Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank in Washington where Summers was a senior fellow, also has confirmed that Summers is no longer affiliated with the organisation.
Both chambers of Congress agreed on Tuesday to pass a measure to require the US justice department to release its files on Epstein, setting up the possible release of tens-of-thousands more documents.
President Donald Trump signed the bill on Wednesday, after reversing his position on the issue following pushback from his supporters.
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Kevin PeacheyCost of living correspondent
Getty ImagesDebt charities say they are receiving an influx of calls as people worry their financial situation has slipped towards becoming unmanageable.
The first weeks of January are usually the busiest time of year for helplines following a particularly expensive period.
Advice charity StepChange said Monday was busier than any single day last year, and credit counselling service Money Wellness said a fifth of those accessing its services at the turn of the year did so between 22:00 and 03:00.
Dave Murphy is working his way out of debt and said demands from creditors could have become overwhelming, but he urged anyone struggling to ensure they asked for help – for their financial and mental wellbeing.
Money Wellness, which runs free debt and money advice services, said thousands of people had accessed its services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Expanded assistance online allows people to increasingly find information outside of normal hours – including overnight.
Sebrina McCullough, its head of advice, said: “The numbers we’re seeing over Christmas and New Year are unprecedented.
“People often feel pressure to celebrate the holidays, even when money is tight, and our data shows many are turning to us late at night when they feel most anxious.”
Pressure of priority bills
StepChange’s website had 3,958 visitors on Christmas Day, and 15,401 on New Year’s Eve and 1 January combined.
Many may have simply been exploring their options, but calls came in thick and fast at the start of the month. While not at the level of the energy crisis of a few years ago, call numbers were notably up on last year.
The Money Advice Trust, which runs National Debtline, said the first working days of January had seen more calls than last year.
Monday was the busiest single day in its history, when 1,365 calls came in.
Concerns are particularly acute for those struggling to pay priority bills such as council tax and rent.
The colder weather could also place extra strain on vulnerable households, with £4.4bn already owed to energy suppliers following a period of high prices, although the government’s cold weather payments have been triggered in many areas.
Charities are urging anyone whose debt has become unmanageable to seek help as soon as possible, rather than making matters worse by ignoring the situation.
That is a view shared by Dave, who has managed to work his way out of difficulty.
A few years ago, he found his previously manageable credit card debt becoming a problem when he was unexpectedly made redundant at the same time as going through a divorce.
“They were two quite dramatic things in six months,” said Dave, who has previously spoken to the BBC about his debt issues.
“The debt was around £20,000 to £25,000 at its height. It became so overwhelming. You feel that you are letting creditors down because you want to do what they ask of you – but you are scared, you are renting, and at times you struggle to get through each day.
“Once you are in a spiral, it is really hard to get out of it.”
He is now working in insurance, his debts are manageable and being paid off, and he said he wanted to help others “to show that you can get through these things”.
Figures published earlier in the week by the Bank of England fuelled concerns that everyday costs were becoming harder for some households to manage without turning to borrowing.
The data showed that credit card borrowing grew at the fastest annual rate in nearly two years in the run-up to Christmas.
The annual growth rate for credit card borrowing increased to 12.1% in November, from 10.9% the previous month – the highest figure since January 2024 when it was 12.5%.
Nutrition labels on the front of food packaging should be made mandatory in the UK, according to a consumer champion.
Which? called on the Government to make the change amid what it described as an “obesity crisis”.
A “better approach” is needed to help people make healthier choices, it said.
It comes after research by the group found shoppers prefer traffic light labelling, although they said it could be improved with more prominent placing and increased size.
Traffic light labelling on food packaging was introduced in 2013 and uses green (low), amber (medium), and red (high) colours to show fat, saturated fat, sugar, and salt content, plus calories.
The system is not mandatory in the UK, although it is voluntarily used by major manufacturers and retailers.
However, according to Which? the system is used inconsistently.
It claims some shops do not include traffic light labelling, or provide it without colour coding.
Research by Which? captured insights through the mobile phones of more than 500 shoppers to find out how the traffic light system is working for customers.
A third (33%) said that the nutrition label was the first thing they looked at on the front of a pack.
People most used the traffic light system when choosing snacks (56%), dairy products (33%) and breakfast cereals (27%).
Almost half (47%) said they found this labelling easy to understand.
In focus groups, the traffic light system was the preferred food labelling option, although suggestions to improve it included making it more prominent and larger.
Which? said that people also called for making the scheme easier to understand, such as making the recommended serving size on some products more realistic and consistent.
The consumer champion is now calling on the Government to introduce a mandatory front-of-pack nutrition labelling scheme.
It said this could build on the existing traffic light system to make it work better for shoppers by bolstering consistency, making it more prominent and removing aspects people may find confusing.
Sue Davies, head of food policy at Which?, said: “The UK is in the midst of an obesity crisis and it’s clear that a better approach to front-of-pack labelling is needed to help shoppers make healthier choices.
“Which? is calling on the Government to ensure that all manufacturers and retailers use front of pack nutrition labelling, ideally by making this mandatory.
“Our research shows that people still prefer traffic light nutrition labelling, but that the current scheme needs updating so that it is clearer and simpler and works better for consumers.
“The new system should be backed up with effective enforcement and oversight by the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland, so shoppers have full trust in the labels on their food.”
In 2022, some 64% of adults in England were estimated to be overweight or living with obesity.
In November it also emerged that one in 10 children in the first year of primary school in England is obese, the highest figure on record outside the pandemic.
It is estimated that obesity costs the NHS more than £11 billion every year.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “This Government is bringing in a modernised food nutrient scoring system to reduce obesity.
“It’s just one element of the strong action we are taking to tackle the obesity crisis as part of our 10 Year Health Plan, which will shift the focus from sickness to prevention.
“We are also restricting advertising of junk food on TV and online, limiting volume price promotions on less healthy foods and introducing mandatory reporting on sales of healthy food.”
Andrea Martinez-Inchausti, assistant director of food at the British Retail Consortium, said: “Retailers have led the way in nutrition labelling, consistently providing advice on healthy living.
“Whether that be through the traffic light system, or other measures, the industry is fully committed to helping improve the health of their customers and are constantly looking for what will work best for them.”
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