Harvard, Harvard, Uber Alles!

The Harvard endowment fund was an institutional behemoth that at its peak was twice that of Yale University's endowment and historically was a proven winner. Between 1990 and 2008, Harvard’s endowment had an impressive average annual growth rate of 14.3%. The linked article by Vanity Fair, beyond providing another example of a big investing fund going bad in the Great Recession, illustrates some of the worst elements of greed, incompetence, and political correctness that have come to dominate academia.

Over-zealous expansion, bloated academic budgets, balkanized departments, jealousy emanating from both staff and alumni, and the upsetting of the cozy incestuous relationships that all large-scale institutions tend to favor, lead to an unprecedented $8 billion or 22% decline in the endowment fund. A risky investment strategy in the bubble days coupled with a revolving door of management has lead this once glorified university to fall into disarray.

Radical change is coming to Harvard. Fewer professors, for one thing. Fewer teaching assistants, janitors, and support staff. Shuttered libraries. Less money for research and travel and books. Cafe's replaced by vending machines. Junior-varsity sports teams downgraded to clubs. No raises. No bonuses. No fresh coats of paint or new carpets. Overflowing trash cans.

To address this systemic problem, they have elevated (after the Larry Summers "women are stupid" debacle) Dr. Drew Gilpin Faust, who was formally the dean of Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, as president. Her ambitions in the face of this game-changing event are to retreat from Summers once lofty goals of scientific and technological advancement and rededicate the school to the arts.

The article lists a hedge-fund manager, who has Harvard as one of his clients, succinctly describing the school as being “completely fucked.” Having produced such heralded alumni as former AG Alberto "torture is acceptable" Gonzales from their law program and George W. Bush from their MBA program, their failure is now complete.