Harvard University was reportedly warned a long time ago that it was heading for disaster with the way it was investing its basic operating funds.
The Sunday edition of the Boston Globe details a number of heated discussions the head of Harvard's endowment, Jack Meyer, had with the school's then-president, Lawrence Summers. Meyer reportedly told Summers on several occasions that the cash needed to keep the school running should not be invested in the market the way the school's endowment was. Summers, now President Obama's top economic adviser, was later told the same thing by Meyer's successor, but didn't listen.
Harvard lost one-point-eight billion dollars of its operating cash in the market crash, forcing tighter budgets, layoffs, and a delay of expansion plans.