Spreading the Wealth

Last week's announcement that the University will increase its endowment payout by 20 percent next year is welcome news to students and Faculty alike. Finally, Harvard is dispersing just a little more of its gigantic endowment, an endowment that has nearly tripled in the last five years. Finally, Harvard is back on track with a payout of about 4.5 percent of the endowment, upping the shockingly low 3.3 percent payout of this year.

It's about time, but is it enough?

Despite the big numbers involved (the University will be spending $95 million more than it did last year, and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences will receive $40 million of the total), Harvard is merely returning to its normal spending level--a level many financial analysts agree is quite conservative.

Administrators cite the upcoming conclusion of the Capital Campaign as one of the reasons for the increased payout. Provost Harvey V. Fineberg '67 said, "A lot of people have contributed a lot of money, and I think it will be very helpful to be able to point and see how that money is having an effect today." While we agree that major University donors such as Katherine B. Loker and Sidney R. Knafel '52 deserve to see the fruits of their generosity, the University should take its spending cues not from individual donors but from the needs of students.

The FAS money will be used to fund the already-implemented increases in financial aid, to hasten current construction projects including repairs to the library system and the building of the Knafel Center for Government and International Studies and to support Faculty research. Aside from the very helpful increase in financial aid funding, students will see little change in their everyday lives as a result of this larger payout.

Harvard should consider opening its purse just a little wider and pouring some millions into addressing student concerns: freezing tuition levels at current rates for the next few years; improving student facilities, such as the woefully backward Malkin Athletic Center; hiring more professors to lower the student-faculty ratio and continuing to strengthen the financial aid program.

Let's hope that this move back from stinginess to mere thriftiness betokens the possibility of future generosity on the part of the University.