Alumni Group Tries to Elicit Social Action From Harvard

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/education/03harvard.html?_r=1&oref=slogin%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/education/03harvard.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>
[quote]
For three years, a handful of Harvard University alumni have waged a quiet effort to persuade the university to expand its mission far beyond its Cambridge campus, the students it educates there and the multitude of research labs, libraries and other facilities available to them.</p>

<p>They call themselves Harvard Alumni for Social Action, or HASA, and their goal is to prod the university to use its vast wealth, including its $35 billion endowment, in unprecedented ways, like supporting struggling colleges in Africa.

[/quote]
</p>

2

<p>Annoying people</p>

3

<p>So you agree Harvard should not spend its obscenely large endowment to worthy causes?</p>

4

<br>


<br>

5

<p>A slippery slope sir, a slippery slope indeed.</p>

6

<p>Ugh . . . how about Harvard spends THEIR endowment precisely as they see fit? If the alumni have a problem, let them give their bucks to whales or Ralph Nader or Urganda or whatever. What bugs me here is the grandstanding and moral one upmanship. Fact is, Harvard and its peers have been using their endowments in very good ways, making their education far more accessible to low income kids, for one thing. I suspect these chest pounders deep down have a problem with that - better to give the money to villagers in the Third World then a kid of a postman in Kansas City.</p>

7

<p>What does this have in common with asking a tobacco company to do the same thing?</p>

<p>Oh that's right. It's their own money, they can do whatever they want with it.</p>

8

<p>^ Hmmmm</p>

<p>Maybe, just maybe it's appropriate for H to use their endowment on becoming as fantastic a university as they can be? Recruiting the best minds regardless of income. My cynical take on these unctuous alumni beating their breasts over the uses of the endowment are fundamentally about how their legacy kids are getting less and less of an advantage in admissions thanks to more and more financial aid.</p>

<p>And if you want to bring up tobacco - I believe there's some rather bad press at the moment for the "hero" law firms that "took them on." They certainly "took" plenty of folks. A good number will be heading to prison.</p>

9

<p>Damn straight to all that.</p>

10

<p>This could be one of the initiatives that really puts Harvard to the top beyond their absolute reputation.</p>

11

<p>Or they could make tuition free for everyone. That would actually be relevant to, you know, the university itself.</p>

12

<p>second mammall, imagine this:</p>

<p>dear public, we're now spending our entire spare endownment on social actions in some rainforest or desert... oh yeah, due to these new costs, we're unfortunatly not able to continue our financial aid problem... </p>

<p>i guess the 70% (i think it was that number) receiving financial aid will be delighted... (note the sarcasm and don't take it word by word)</p>

13

<p>I don't want to do the math right now, but Harvard can give free tuition to every student, undergraduate or graduate, and it will not even dent its endowment.</p>

14

<p>mammell and piccolo, </p>

<p>bravo bravo bravo! </p>

<p>If harvard was to give to every cause that every person thinks is important it wouldn't have any money left for what "they" think is important.. Their students (with the very generous finaid initiative).</p>

15

<p>^ glad to see I'm not alone on this ;)</p>

16

<p>I am confused at the negative thoughts. Harvard has enough money to spend on many social causes while still giving the same generous financial aid it has given this admissions season. How many billions are in its endowment? I think the idea is worthy and it seems bad publicity for Harvard to refuse to consider it.</p>

17

<br>


<br>

18

<p>There are several issues involved.<br>
1.Harvard is an educational institution. Its mission is research and teaching. It's not the Gates Foundation or the Ford Foundation, etc...
2. Much of its endowment is tied. For example, David Rockefeller gave $10 million. This money is strictly to fund study abroad programs; it cannot be used for general scholarships let alone go to villagers in the Third World.
3. If Harvard were to use its funds for non-educational charitable purposes, who would decide which cause and which organization to send it to?
4. Alumni are free to donate to their favorite causes without going through Harvard, which would add another layer of bureaucracy and additional processing expenses. I donate as an alumna and as a parent. I also donate to a range of charitable organizations. I don't need Harvard to tell me which ones are the most worthwhile.</p>

19

<p>100 million*</p>

20

<p>Thank you, Marite - the voice of reason as always.</p>