Perhaps STRS is smarter than Harvard!

From a retiree, November 11, 2008
Subject: Perhaps STRS is smarter than Harvard!!!

Harvard looks to cut costs

The economic slowdown is making its way onto college campuses. Harvard University President Drew Faust said this morning that the prestigious university is looking for ways to cut costs, despite a nearly $37 billion endowment.

"We must recognize that Harvard is not invulnerable to the seismic financial shocks in the larger world," Faust wrote in an e-mail to faculty, staff, students and alumni. "Our own economic landscape has been significantly altered."

The school's endowment managed to grow at 8.6% for the year ending June 13, as the major stock indexes slumped in the same time period, but the school will have to absorb losses in the fund as the economy continues to shrink, Faust said.

"Virtually every college and university, their budgets are under strain, stress, for a variety of reasons," Matthew Hamill, a vice president of the National Association of College and University Business Officers, told The Associated Press.

[View rest of article here.]