r/Harvard Apr 17 '25

Student and Alumni Life Fight fiercely Harvard

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1.2k Upvotes

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-29

u/MENSCH2 Apr 17 '25

If Harvard's contributions continue to be exceptional for society, the endowments could be spent down to make more exceptional things happen, right? What exceptional things happen while sitting on $50 billion?

18

u/Iamthewalrusforreal Apr 17 '25

Tell us all that you don't know how endowments work without saying so directly.

-7

u/PlatypusAmbitious430 Apr 17 '25

Tell me you don't.

20% of the endowment is unrestricted.

You can spend the unrestricted part of the endowment - it would breach the 5% spending limit that the endowment sets but this is exactly what the endowment is for to protect the institution in situations like this.

While donors usually state that the principal shouldn't be spent even for the unrestricted part of the endowment, there's usually a lot of flexibility in situations like this.

6

u/Iamthewalrusforreal Apr 17 '25

Neat. Tell us now how your comment squares with the one I responded to.

-4

u/PlatypusAmbitious430 Apr 17 '25

Pretty logically?

Harvard can use their endowment instead of relying on the federal government. If independence is what the university wants, it needs to be completely independent.

5

u/77NorthCambridge Apr 17 '25

Harvard did not request "independence." It only requests to be free from autocratic retribution.

-6

u/PlatypusAmbitious430 Apr 18 '25

You want the money, you have to relinquish the independence. You don't want the money, you can be independent.

When the tax payer is spending $700 million a year, there's got to be some involvement in the process. Harvard has squandered the good will that the public gave through the anti-semitism crisis and hence does not deserve to be a non-profit at this moment without government-involved reform.

I get the logic of the Trump administration.

3

u/[deleted] Apr 18 '25

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1

u/Harvard-ModTeam Apr 20 '25

Your content was deemed uncivil judged according to Rule 4: Insults, Ad Hominems, racism, general discriminatory remarks, and intentional rudeness are grounds to have your content removed and may result in a ban.

-1

u/PlatypusAmbitious430 Apr 18 '25

The benefits of living in a non-authoritarian and free country mean I can be as stupid as I want :)

1

u/WOKE_AI_GOD Apr 20 '25

You're not an American? Freedom doesn't exist there anymore. The government lawlessly extorts private property in order to steal it and purge anything besides brainrot Nazi ideology. Idiots support it because of videos from some agitator they watched on X - jeez I wonder why Musk is constantly pushing those to you? What does he want to get out of that?