Harvard Collapse

[BillsNYC]

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/feature...8?currentPage=5

 

Long but great article about how Harvard is in financial trouble right now, the first page is a great read.

 

Basically, Larry Summers is named President in 2001 and forces "change" on the university by

 

1) Hiring more professors (avg salary almost $200,000)

2) Giving free tuition to those from families making less than $45k, then $60k (which is then upped to paying 10% of salary up to $180k by the next president, whom the NY Times applauds)

3) Spending money the university doesn't have to build the same square footage of the Pentagon this decade

 

Economy goes to hell, and the place is in ruins. He's not all to blame, but what he did sounds eerily similar to what Obama is doing now. And guess who is Obama's economy adviser? That's right, Mr. Summers.

 

1) Increasing government

2) Having the "rich" pay more of the bill, income redistribution

3) Stimulus, healthcare

[X. Benedict]

It is always easy to over-estimate or under-estimate the power of university presidents.

 

No defense of Summers, but usually they are following a strategic plan that is already in place and is agreed upon by University constituencies.

 

I believe that Summers left in 2006....but since then most University endowments in the country have gotten killed.

Harvard's probably outperformed most.

 

Harvard is not in trouble......but they may have budget squabbles...that's how it always goes.

 

It seems to me to fault Summers for a strategic plan that has failed due to endowment difficulties since he left has very little to do with him.

His job was basically oversight of any strategic plan (often in place to limit Presidential power at Universities), and it was his job to question what was happening with endowment management not to manage it himself.

 

In the end, he was weaker than the faculty.

 

Thanks for the link.