Reader EB brought this speech by Drew Faust, the current president of harvard,  to my attention re: my post yesterday about harvard layoffs. She replaced the infamous Larry Summers, who is at this time trying to convince Pres. Obama to cap and trade like nobody’s business. the summers years. oh those were good times. the speech given at during her first commencement gives an interesting  rundown of what the endowment really comprises of. If i had money, i would start the “dont lay off poor people” gift. The speech starts off pretty lame, with all the harry poetter inside jokery (JK Rowling was commencement speaker), but it gets good: (continue reading…)

Off the bat, i have a biochem bachelors degree from harvard. I have an often vacillating love hate relationship with my college and my experience there. I probably admit its faults much more often to my fellow classmates, and defend it vehemently to people who take the stereotypical stance of what it is like to attend it (you know what those charges are), but this story i read this morning via former alum  Matt Yglesias (the anti-ross douthat) over on thinkprogress.com is really indefensible. I thought news of harvard stopping construction of their new allston science building may have meant they would avoid laying off workers, but i thought too soon. This is a quote he linked by Dylan Matthews: (continue reading…)

President Faust announces that plans for the Allston Science Complex will slow down due to the loss of nearly 30% of the endowment. (continue reading…)