Former US Treasury Secretary and Harvard University president Larry Summers has been handed a lifetime ban from a leading academic society. The drastic measure follows the publication of emails revealing his continued friendly association with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Professional Exile and Institutional Fallout
The American Economic Association (AEA), a major nonprofit scholarly organisation, confirmed it had accepted Summers’ resignation and imposed a permanent prohibition. He is now barred for life from “attending, speaking at, or otherwise participating” in any of the AEA’s events. In a strongly worded statement, the AEA said: “The AEA condemns Mr. Summers’ conduct, as reflected in publicly reported communications, as fundamentally inconsistent with its standards of professional integrity and with the trust placed in mentors within the economics profession.”
This professional exile is part of a wider institutional backlash. In the wake of the email scandal last month, Summers initially took a leave of absence from his teaching role at Harvard University and from his directorship of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School. Several other organisations have since severed their links with him, including the Center for American Progress, the Center for Global Development, and the Budget Lab at Yale University.
The Damning Email Correspondence
The released correspondence, which emerged publicly last month, paints a picture of an ongoing, casual relationship between Summers and Epstein long after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor. The emails show Summers seemingly seeking advice from Epstein on personal matters.
In one notable exchange from late November 2018, Epstein offered to act as a “wing man” for Summers, who was apparently pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman who viewed him as a mentor. “im a pretty good wing man , no?” Epstein wrote on 30 November 2018. The following day, Summers replied to Epstein, stating he had texted the woman saying he “had something brief to say to her,” and pondering whether to thank her or apologise in light of his married status.
Further emails revealed that Summers’ wife, Elisa New, also communicated with Epstein. In a 2015 message, she thanked him for helping to arrange financial support for a poetry project she directs.
A Major Error in Judgement
Jeffrey Epstein, who authorities state died by suicide in jail in 2019, was a convicted sex offender whose extensive connections to wealthy and powerful figures have fuelled widespread outrage and conspiracy theories about elite misconduct.
Summers, who served as Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton from 1999 to 2001 and led Harvard University from 2001 to 2006, issued a statement last week addressing the scandal. He expressed having “great regrets in my life” and acknowledged that his association with Epstein was a “major error in judgement.” A spokesperson for Summers did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the lifetime ban.
The lifetime ban from the AEA represents one of the most severe professional sanctions possible in the academic economics world, underscoring the profound damage the Epstein association has inflicted on Summers’ reputation and career.
