Harvard professors pledge to take pay cut in support of university's fight against Trump

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3. And Harvard is sitting on a 53 billion dollar endowment fund

Can Harvard Use Its Endowment To Make Up For Federal Cuts? It’s Possible, but Not That Simple.


April 17, 2025

Harvard’s endowment is not a $53.2 billion pile of cash. But as the University sits on the precipice of historic financial losses, it has increasingly faced calls to draw from endowment funds to make up the difference.

Even as Harvard’s annual financial report emphasizes that the endowment is a long-term investment, not a slush fund, it leaves room for flexibility during crises.

“While the University has no intention of doing so, there are additional investments held by the University and the endowment that could be liquidated in the event of an unexpected disruption,” the report reads.

If anything counts as a disruption, it would be the Trump administration’s targeted attack on Harvard’s financial stability — freezing $2.2 billion in federal research funding, floating an endowment tax increase, and directing the IRS to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status.

Since the cuts were announced — with Harvard researchers already receiving stop-work orders and Harvard Medical School announcing imminent layoffs — some prominent voices have said Harvard’s endowment is a powerful backup plan.

Former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers wrote in an April 4 New York Times op-ed that wealthy universities, including Harvard, “should make clear that their formidable financial endowments are not there to simply be envied or admired.”
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https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/4/17/harvard-endowment-explained/