Elisa New

Elisa New is a literary scholar and poet who taught at Harvard University, where she was a professor of American literature. She created and hosted the PBS series “Poetry in America,” an educational television program that aimed to bring poetry to a broad national audience through conversations with artists, athletes, scientists, and others. The show was distinctive for its mission of democratizing poetry and was distributed nationally by PBS.

Epstein’s Role in “Poetry in America”

In December 2025, disclosures revealed that Jeffrey Epstein had been involved in developing and funding “Poetry in America.” The extent of Epstein’s financial contribution and the degree to which he shaped the program’s development were not fully detailed in the initial public reporting, but the revelation that a convicted sex offender had played a foundational role in the show’s creation and funding prompted immediate institutional responses.

New is married to Lawrence Summers, the former Harvard president and Treasury Secretary who has separately faced questions about his documented meetings with Epstein. The connection between Epstein and both members of the household drew additional scrutiny.

Arizona State University and PBS Actions

In December 2025, Arizona State University cut ties with New following the Epstein funding disclosures. PBS separately dropped “Poetry in America.” Both actions were announced in the same period, representing one of the earlier institutional consequences to emerge from the Epstein file releases — preceding the larger wave of resignations and firings that followed in January and February 2026.

The cancellation of “Poetry in America” effectively ended a television program that had been in production for several years and had received favorable coverage from critics and educators. New did not immediately make a detailed public statement in response to the disclosures about Epstein’s involvement in the program’s funding and development.

Documents

Primary-source records that name or reference Elisa New. Inclusion in these documents is not, by itself, evidence of wrongdoing.

• House Oversight Committee — Epstein email correspondence release (Nov. 2025) — The emails that prompted PBS to drop “Poetry in America” and Arizona State University to cut ties were released by the House Oversight Committee in November 2025. According to the Harvard Crimson and the Boston Globe, the correspondence shows New and Epstein exchanged emails from 2013 to at least 2018 about funding for her projects, including a $110,000 donation to her non-profit Verse Video Education in 2016.