As large as it is, income from the endowment covers about a third of the total operating costs of the university. There are contractual limits on what different funds can be spent on, though you can bet that as we speak, accountants at Harvard are going through ledgers to see what funds can be shifted around. You can bet that calls and letters are going out to donors and alumni. In fact, this is incentive to make the endowment bigger, so that it can cover more.
And if you divert income from one fund, or liquidate it to raise cash, that comes out of someone's budget one way or another--as the saying goes, you are robbing Peter to pay Paul. And in the long run, it leaves them with less. The feds are trying to force them to choose to cut programs they don't like--they've been explicit about that in the demand letter.
>Projects that were stopped after Harvard rejected the government’s demands include a $60 million contract supporting an international study of tuberculosis, a $15.2 million project to develop treatments for long-term radiation exposure like the kind cancer patients experience in radiation therapy, a $3.2 million study on the effects of microgravity and radiation in space on human cells, and a $700,100 project to detect ALS early.
Whether you mean to or not, you are parroting one of Trump's talking points. He wants people to think universities are full of rich liberals sponging off taxpayers to do silly science experiments. The reality is different. Endowments aren't just a slush fund you can spend on anything you want.
I wouldn’t be surprised if much of the endowment is not legally available to them.
At least when I was heavily involved in the finances of a school with a much smaller endowment, less than 5% of it was general funds. The rest had tremendous restrictions on how it could be used.
The value of life isn't your work. Work can be turned off any moment, due to tyrant or recession. Work is fleeting. The value of life is your personal relationships, your family, your own character and ability to deal with difficulty. We don't know what the future will bring, but stay strong, we all have an uphill climb ahead.
Not everyone agrees with that though. You absolutely can make your work the pride of your life. People valuing work above all else are sometimes the reason for humanity’s advancement.
The human race has benefited greatly from individual researchers who made their work the main source of value in their life, and from societies, patrons, and government institutions who gave these people the stability and financial support to pursue such a single minded focus.
today it's politician making you cry, tomorrow it might be war or death of your relative or economical depression. But I guarantee all of this will be over sooner or later, constantly thinking about how bad things are fuels your anxiety. The best you can do is to starve it, not to feed it.
There was a whole list [0] of unhinged demands. In particular Trump demanded government control over "viewpoint diversity", meaning some MAGA determination of which teachers get hired/fired and which students are admitted/rejected, based on unspecified arbitrary ideological tests.
Inserting a Political Commissar into the university is a really big fucking deal, especially if you don't want to abolish the First Amendment. Why would anyone want American colleges to become like the ones back in Soviet Russia?
(Plus various smaller evils, like mandatory suspension of any student for wearing a face-mask.)
> violate federal law
If so, explain to us why the hell Trump isn't doing the normal thing and suing/prosecuting them in an actual court of law with a judge while pointing to a specific law and providing evidence. He's got the staff, they know how to do it.
Instead, this is like a cop pulling you over and saying "You were speeding, the fine is... all the cash in your wallet, right now." No! That's not how it works! Stop defending the criminal cop!
That work is in you now. It isn't gone. It has been converted into knowledge and experience that you will bring with you elsewhere.
I agree with your sentiments regarding the canceling of funding. It is tragic and criminal and we must organize and protest against it if we are going to save this country.
The 2030s-2050s are going to have a poverty of cures. There are many diseases that we could have gotten closer to figuring out, and we're just deciding not to bother anymore.
Thank you for pushing your line of inquiry as far as you could. I hope this is only a temporary interuption of American science, and not permanent.
If I said that I am an aboriginal self-reassembling time travelling robot scavenger trying to prevent a world wide disaster, would you take my word for it?
Genuinely sorry your funding dried up, but going on the internet a d talking about how you might try to kill the president is whacked out. You need to get ahold of yourself.
And maybe write a letter to the president asking them to comply
The knowledge gained from the experiments and the knowledge to do the experiments themselves has not gone anywhere. It’s with you.
As the dust settles over the next couple of months and years, it’s very likely other countries will come looking for you, if that hasn’t started already.
I'm not in any position to judge you or the work you've done. Don't end it though. You are far and away more valuable than lab work or the tantrums of a child-king. If you need someone to reach out to, I'm here. I've been on that precipice, for entirely different reasons, but I imagine the feeling is much the same.
Make a playlist of music, and give certain songs/bands (not all) meanings (Tom Petty mean todays going to be a good day, Daft Punk means next week everything is magically going to be fixed, Madonna Holiday means your going to get a break from it all). The point is to get you past this phase. When those certain songs come on, your giving them meaning can give you a little space to breath in that moment. When my life had fallen apart, I lost my careers/family, and then my mom slowly died of cancer, I needed this playlist trick.
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 81.3 ms ] threadAnd even if they have a trust that’s allowed to make decisions for them, the trusts are unlikely to change the principal’s choices.
https://archive.today/latest/www.wsj.com/us-news/education/h...
At least when I was heavily involved in the finances of a school with a much smaller endowment, less than 5% of it was general funds. The rest had tremendous restrictions on how it could be used.
Two fascinating examples:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harrison
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF8d72mA41M
No, lies are bad, stop spreading them.
There was a whole list [0] of unhinged demands. In particular Trump demanded government control over "viewpoint diversity", meaning some MAGA determination of which teachers get hired/fired and which students are admitted/rejected, based on unspecified arbitrary ideological tests.
Inserting a Political Commissar into the university is a really big fucking deal, especially if you don't want to abolish the First Amendment. Why would anyone want American colleges to become like the ones back in Soviet Russia?
(Plus various smaller evils, like mandatory suspension of any student for wearing a face-mask.)
> violate federal law
If so, explain to us why the hell Trump isn't doing the normal thing and suing/prosecuting them in an actual court of law with a judge while pointing to a specific law and providing evidence. He's got the staff, they know how to do it.
Instead, this is like a cop pulling you over and saying "You were speeding, the fine is... all the cash in your wallet, right now." No! That's not how it works! Stop defending the criminal cop!
[0] https://www.harvard.edu/research-funding/wp-content/uploads/...
I agree with your sentiments regarding the canceling of funding. It is tragic and criminal and we must organize and protest against it if we are going to save this country.
Why's that, though?
Have you been threatened physically because of this?
I flagged this submission, it's pretty much on par with a troll post.
Thank you for pushing your line of inquiry as far as you could. I hope this is only a temporary interuption of American science, and not permanent.
And maybe write a letter to the president asking them to comply
As the dust settles over the next couple of months and years, it’s very likely other countries will come looking for you, if that hasn’t started already.
Hang in there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAd93jEFdjw
Make a playlist of music, and give certain songs/bands (not all) meanings (Tom Petty mean todays going to be a good day, Daft Punk means next week everything is magically going to be fixed, Madonna Holiday means your going to get a break from it all). The point is to get you past this phase. When those certain songs come on, your giving them meaning can give you a little space to breath in that moment. When my life had fallen apart, I lost my careers/family, and then my mom slowly died of cancer, I needed this playlist trick.