<p><a href=“Harvard '60 ”>Harvard '60 ;
<p>Some of the article is very positive:
By nearly every measure, Harvard stands at a pinnacle of power and prestige. It boasts an unmatched 90 libraries, 35 Nobel Prize-winners, 12 museums, 41 varsity teams, and dozens of think tanks that help shape national policy and rebuild faltering economies from Latin America to the Pacific Rim.
Some of it is somewhat critical:
Yet the pressure of maintaining excellence carries a cost. </p>
<p>Harvard’s growing internationalization and eagerness to function as a shadow State Department abroad can make it look too cozy with repressive regimes; its aggressive and secret land acquisition in Allston and its planned Cambridge expansion have alienated neighbors at home. The university’s strict tenure process routinely discards promising faculty. And its students are so driven to achieve that many suffer from undue stress during what should be one of the most enjoyable times of their lives.
And some of it is just downright facinating:
Harvard bans reporters from its development office on the third and fourth floors of University Place in Cambridge. But sources say that the cubicles there contain a different sort of treasure: a two-inch-high printout, updated weekly, listing prospective donors with a coded rating based on giving capacity.</p>
<p>These ratings are far more than guesswork. Harvard has long boasted the most sophisticated fund-raising operation in higher education. In 1919, embarking on a $15.25 million campaign, it became the first university to hire professional fund-raisers.</p>
<p>‘‘When I cease to be president of Harvard College, I shall join one of the mendicant orders, so as to have less begging to do,’’ lamented A. Lawrence Lowell, president at the time.</p>
<p>Last year, Harvard spent $35 million on fund-raising - and raised $427 million. The development office has 250 employees, aided by 4,000 alumni volunteers.</p>
<p>Identifying prospects is the first step. Some alumni draw Harvard’s attention by reporting high incomes on the five-year reunion surveys, or boasting of lavish lifestyles in their class reports. Other alumni are ‘‘rated’’ by classmates.</p>
<p>‘‘If I see a proxy statement or a prospectus involving a Harvard graduate, I send it to the development office,’’ says Ernest Monrad, an alumnus and Boston money manager who has endowed two Harvard chairs. ‘‘If a fellow just got a $5 million bonus and he says he can’t afford a $10,000 gift, you can say, `Come on!’’’
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Byerly
June 11, 2005, 4:18pm
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<p>Pretty dated stuff - from 1998 when the endowment was about half its current size. I think this was linked here several years ago.</p>
<p>Sure the numbers have changed… but I doubt much of the underlying infastructure has</p>
Byerly
June 11, 2005, 4:38pm
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<p>Quite a bit, actually. </p>
<p>And its about to be substantially altered again, what with (1) the changing of the guard at the Harvard Managment Co. and (2) a new structure implemented at the Development Office in advance of the upcoming multi-billion $$ capital drive to pay for the “Allston Initiative.”</p>