The evidence so far reveals a web of powerful people whom Epstein used and who used Epstein. Some may have nothing to do with the pedophilia, but it appears that Epstein was able to move a lot of money around in ways that would normally have been flagged. If we’re okay with that sort of thing, then I guess we can just say it’s fine for powerful people to break laws.
The pedophilia is another subject. There should be no agreement that anyone should be able to use and abuse underage girls. Those who did need to be revealed and punished, regardless of their status or political leanings.
IMHO, allowing some to bend or break rules allows a subset to believe that they can do anything they want. That should be a lesson to be remembered moving forward.
The info I have is that only undergrads and direct-report grads are protected from predators. It is now a moot point, though, because his prey was not a Harvard student at all.
Apologies for being That Guy, but I do think it’s important to be precise here: Harvard’s policy (scroll down to “Conduct in Relationships between Individuals of Different University Status”) prohibits faculty-undergrad relationships, and prohibits faculty-grad student relationships if the faculty member is teaching or supervising the student, which matches what @OhiBro said above.
I’m not sure, though, if the current policy matches what was in place at the time—I feel like a lot of universities tightened their policies around the turn of the century, and a lot of policies got tightened alongside the emergence of the #metoo movement.
I think the Crimson article said the woman was a professor at LSE when it occured. She was a Harvard undergrad in 2004. I see no issue with an improper relationship (i guess other than Summers was/is married). He definitely comes off as puerile and jerky in his emails to Epstein. I didnt see anythimg that even suggested Summers was involved with underage girls. Did i miss that?
In Summers’ case, his fall from grace comes from the fact that he was still bro-ing down with Jeffrey Epstein long after the first indictment, long after the Miami Herald investigation, long after the Giuffre revelations. He was calling Jeffrey his wing-man up until 2019. A total failure of judgment.
Same reason that Peter Mandelson (UK ambassador) lost his job a couple months ago - he likewise was not implicated in any underage sex or trafficking, rather it was his lack of judgment that made him unfit.
Fair enough for a person in a public position. I hate to see bro-ing around conflated with being guilty of a heinous crime as it seems Summers has been on a lot of other social media.
There’s a real spectrum of bad behavior in the case, isn’t there? Summers comes as across as a pervy old man which IMO is incompatible with his many positions of power and respectability in our society. Epstein’s role in securing funding for Sunmers’ wife’s poetry initiative further compounds the poor judgment.
As an aside, the whole Jeffrey Epstein as a pal of the rich and famous keeps bringing to my mind the apocryphal exchange between Fitzgerald and Hemingway about the rich, and what makes the rich different from the rest of us.
I generally side with Hemingway on this—but the whole Epstein saga makes me wonder if maybe, just maybe, Fitzgerald was on to something.
The recent case of Gisele Pelicot in France did not involve rich men (although the excesses of money involved in the Epstein case make it much more complex.) Disgusting, criminal, organized sexual abuse unfortunately exists at all income levels.
The article is old because the issue has never been resolved. Deleted the rest of my post because the fact that it’s about a political figure will probably get it flagged.
