What Emily did was worse than Summer.

Summer literally screwed their relationship, his job, his friend, and his life.

Emily did what she did because she was scared and she came clean with it. She obviously cared for him.

That is not to say what Emily did was not absolutely detestable.

However, Summer actually ruined his life. She ruined his job. She cost him his friends. She played chose her career over him, which may not be that big of a deal, except that it cost him EVERYTHING. Every single thing he ever treasured.

Because of Emily's mistake, his relationship status changed. Maybe even his personality, a bit.

Because of Summer's betrayal, his entire life changed. Every single aspect.

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We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
--Oscar Wilde

Will kissed April -- what? -- an hour before meeting up with Sarah (Emily) again. So, this is supposed to put you on Will's side when Sarah reveals her own infidelity because she slept with his roommate, whereas he only kissed April.

However, Emily still chose to sleep with Charlie. It wasn't just that Charlie took advantage. Yes, it was horrible, but I do agree with most users on this thread because of a few reasons.

First off, Summer was clearly always in love with Hampton more than anyone. It's clear as day that in the first meeting, Summer only had an attraction and lust for Will. When Hampton says, "please tell me you're not in love with him" and she says she can't, that doesn't mean she's in love. Will was obviously more invested in the relationship since he got the ring and she tore apart his career.

That brings me to my second reason. Will's career went down the tube. She exposed his boss for a person who gives preferential treatment to friends but still publicly stands strict on criminals. There was no way for him to come back from that career wise. Thanks to her, his whole outlook on politics changed. Watch Will at the beginning even when he's just a toilet paper guy -- he's fun, he believes in politics -- but when he is betrayed by Summer...he's not having fun and he is negative about politicians.

Thanks to ruining his career, Will's buddy stopped talking to him and his friends broke contact, and by then April had gone away and stopped talking to him too.

Summer's betrayal was the cause for a long-term unemployed, negative, uncaring, depressed Will. Emily came clean, and broke it off because she didn't want to drag him down even more.

Plus, for the person saying it was awful of Will to give Summer the ultimatum and put himself first...that wasn't the case. He broke it off with Summer because he knew once it got out, his friends wouldn't want to be around him if he was with her (but even that didn't help) and he would just come to despise her for ruining his career (and life). Summer had no idea of the rift it was going to cause -- "I think it will be a big thing for a week and then blow over."

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"Your punishment must be more severe." — Bane (TDKR)

If he truly loved her, he could have lost everything and would still be happy that he had her. Meanwhile he married someone who cheated on him and broke up with him, betraying their entire relationship. Anyone who thinks what Summer did was worse than Emily has their values screwed up.

Boy you people sure have some screwed up values….what I find interesting about Summer's character is that she actually saves Will in many ways from becoming the moral decrepit politicians he works for. If Will can excuse something as crooked as what his politician did, what's next? Where was there left to go? Will became disillusioned after that moment, sure, but in many ways he became wiser and more enlightened. He realized that even his idol Bill Clinton was only human, and possibly not a very great one at that. This is the price one pays to be in politics. It is the job of the reporter, no matter what the circumstances are, to tell us the objective truth. That's what Summer did, maybe it hurt a few people in the short run, but it could have hurt way more people in the long run if she hadn't told the truth. Who knows how many other people this guy screwed over and would continue to do so in the future. They don't even say exactly what "his buddy" did to get in jail, but it could have been something terrible for all we know. (We always hear stories about convicted rapists, pedophiles, or murders getting plea deals or "getting off easy" and react in disgust, don't we?)

Finally, I think Emily and Summer were meant to be seen as equally devastating and yet awakening for Will. Will gets his heart broken twice by both Emily and Summer, however can anyone really say that what happened in each scenario was better or worse?

What Emily did was….understandable. Anyone who has ever been in a long distance relationship can understand the absolute pain, loneliness, and heartbreak that goes into trying to make it work. Especially when both parties are changed due to the long distance. Will changed…sure, but so did Emily. The two were no longer compatible, Emily did something stupid in the heat of the moment, owned up to it, and let Will go. I think that's bold of Emily to admit that she cheated on Will, I know it's horrible to do that but she's only human. (well…she's a character, but cheating is realistic in any relationship, let alone long distance).

The point is that people make mistakes….but that doesn't make them bad people.

Emily cheated on him.

Summer was placed close to Will again by Hampton, in order to dig something up on Robredo. The fact that Summer did have some feelings for Will stopped her from doing what she had set out to do the first time around.

After she was confronted by Hampton (with whom she may or may not have broken off things, as they were still kissing and calling each other dear - even though he had affairs with Sophmores and Freshmen, and her being the person he calls to his bedside when he's in the hospital), did she do what she had set out to do: put a halt to Robredo's Political Campaign.

Hampton (and Summer) didn't care about the truth, they only cared about pushing their own political agenda.

I think cheating on a boyfriend and confessing is mild in the scheme of betrayals. If they were married, then it would be a big deal. However, Summer knew she was about to destroy his career and didn't mention it to him at all. She knew what she did was wrong, and even admitted that she messed up their relationship. I wonder it it was getting too heavy for her, and she intentionally sabotaged her relationship by doing what she did.