New Haven Independent

Yale Endowment Drops 25%

by Staff | December 16, 2008 4:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Yale’s endowment dropped about 25 percent to $17 billion since July, returning to where it stood in January 2006 before a period of dramatic growth, Yale President Rick Levin announced Tuesday.

“It is important to recognize,” Levin wrote in an open letter, “that $17 billion is still a very large endowment.”

His announcement has been anticipated, since other universities have been reporting similar drops in their endowments in the wake of Wall Street’s collapse. Harvard announced earlier this month that its endowment dropped 22 percent, or $8 billion, to $36.9 billion in just four months.

Levin predicted that the endowment would remain flat through mid-2010. He projected a Yale budget shortfall of $100 million for the 2009-10 fiscal year, growing to $300 million by 2014.

As a result, Levin announced that Yale will more closely scrutinize the posting of new positions, and try to steer existing staff to those that are approved; cut back on outside consultants; “restrain the growth of salaries”; delay some construction projects, such as the new biology building and School of Management campus; and, largely through attrition, “reduce 2009-10 budgets by an amount equal to 5% of the salaries and benefits of all non-faculty staff.”

Levin made these announcements in a detailed letter to the Yale community. The full text can be found here.

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Comments

Posted by: James | December 17, 2008 9:57 AM

I have a hen and a rooster. Last year they had 12 chicks. This winter all the chicks died. Now I have a rooster and a hen. Did I lose anything?

Posted by: Bill | December 17, 2008 10:51 AM

James--

Imagine you had already made plans for the chicks. 4 would be set aside for breeding, 4 would be raised for your own food, and the last 4 would be traded for other goods.

If those 12 chicks die, your potential is greatly reduced.

Posted by: suppe | December 17, 2008 11:24 PM

Somebody call frank perdue. Maybe he can tell you how to raise chickens without them dying. meanwhile, if yale needs some bucks, maybe they can sell a few buildings, like some of th properties that aren't involved in education to get them back on the tax rolls. BTW, when are they going to get the new coop high school?

Posted by: robn | December 18, 2008 11:10 AM

This is a total horsesh!t move to suppress labor costs. Yale is trying to put a chill on the local construction industry by delaying projects that in total, won't put a dent in their still ample endowment.

This is the same kind of predatorial bottom feeding thats going on with banks. Goldman Sachs took $11B of bailout money and then as thanks to the American public, offshored it so that they're only paying a 1% tax rate this year.

Check out David Sirota, who presents evidence that Americans got punked with the bailout.
http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2008125117/maddow-asks-did-america-get-punked-bailout-answer-yesnow-heres-what-do

Yale Endowment Drops 25%

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