President Faust’s “Harvard and the economy” E-mail - SparkNotes Style

Context

In the early 2000s, Harvard professors become advisors to President Bush. Eight years later, Harvard professors have a panel and say Bush’s economic policy messed everything up. Cake is served.



Plot Overview

A stressed, yet hopeful narrator named “Drew” relates the fable of a troubled protagonist named “Harvard.” Harvard is caught in a series of natural disasters and suffers greatly. Ultimately, a mysterious good Samaritan named “We” teaches Harvard that Puritan moderation and blind faith in one’s superiority will win the day.



Main Characters

Harvard: Probably allegorical. Harvard is tenacious, but vulnerable; cautious, but optimistic.

Drew Faust: A sparse, unobtrusive narrator, Drew’s presence is felt far beyond her brief appearances. Critics have even suggested that each character in the story represents a different aspect of Drew’s psyche.

We: A disciple of Harvard. Drew transfers the Herculean tasks of sacrifice and reinvention onto this mythic figure. We devotes himself to his master with fanatical zeal.

ENDOWMENT: A powerful man paranoid about loosing influence. Fixated on his size and ability to outperform. Open to psychological readings.



Themes, Motifs, and Symbols

Financial Hardship as Environmental Calamity: Drew’s narrative appeals to the heart and senses as well as the mind. With an “economic landscape” experiencing “seismic financial shocks,” the narrator wants the reader to feel the volatility of Harvard’s world.

Reality: A terrifying, abstract unknown, reality appears to have confronted Harvard only recently. Might be loosely defined as “a shitshow.”

Tuition: A highly symbolic beacon of hope. Both Harvard and We fight mercilessly to protect the stability of this precious cargo.



Important Quotations Explained

“Trade-offs and hard choices that can be avoided in times of plenty cannot be averted now.”

Drew is saying that several varsity teams will be sacrificed to maintain the Dining Hall kiosks.



“...changing financial realities will require us to look carefully at compensation costs...”

The text asks the age-old question: “What is a ‘living wage,’ anyway?”



“We are...building on the ideas and best practices of each of the Schools.”

Here, the narrator makes a veiled plea for the Divinity school to start praying.



Questions and Potential Essay Topics

1. Drew continually vacillates between alarming and reassuring the reader. Is she hiding something?

2. Who is this “Allston,” and why do We address her so briefly?

3. If Harvard lost half of its Endowment, it would still be roughly equal to the GDP of Ghana. Discuss.