I’ve been getting behind lately, but I think a roundup of the last week or so is necessary.

President Marx sent out the campus-wide email and press statement:

College and university endowments across the country have been significantly affected by market volatility in recent weeks, and Amherst’s is no exception. Even with our relatively strong investment management, [...]

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In my last post, I linked to an Op-Ed by Amherst President Tony Marx in the LA Times.  In the piece, he argues against a proposed minimum spending rate on colleges’ endowment funds.  His points are especially compelling given the state of the market.  For the record, I stand in basic agreement with his reasoning.
However, [...]

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President Marx writes in the LA Times:
But if the state of the stock market is any indication, the era of hefty annual — or even positive — returns for college endowment funds is likely to be over, perhaps for quite some time. It’s a good thing that colleges have been allowed to tend to our [...]

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I want to alert everyone about an upcoming event this Thursday, September 25th at 8PM in the Red Room in Converse Hall. Following President Marx’s recent decision to forgo signing the Amethyst Initiative to reconsider the drinking age, The Indicator and The Amherst Public are sponsoring a student-moderated panel discussion: “Forum on the Amethyst Initiative and the College’s Drinking Policy.”
We’ll be live-blogging the event on this very site. You all can, as well. Additionally, students will be able to post comments on AmhPub and have their comments read in the forum.

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More press, including a bunch of quotes from Pres. Marx.
Update: link has been corrected.

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Check out this article in yesterday’s New York Times.
 A prominent education professor at Harvard has begun leading “reflection” seminars at three highly selective colleges, which he hopes will push undergraduates to think more deeply about the connection between their educations and aspirations.
The article goes on to say:
“Is this what a Harvard education is for?” asked [...]

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There are really no serious arguments as to why our endowment should not have more transparency or shareholder engagement. I’d like to see our endowment information readily (and electronically) accessible to the College community by the end of next semester. By this time next year, I want to see the formation of a committee dedicated to endowment management.

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Thanks to anathan10 for this piece about enrollment by low-income students into elite colleges.
The proportion of financially needy undergraduates at the nation’s wealthiest colleges and universities actually dropped between the 2004-5 and 2006-7 academic years.
Thankfully, we’re doing better:
A few colleges surveyed had made small but real gains in the proportion of low-income students they enrolled, [...]

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