I think this is a pretty well-known L. Summs factoid but for the uninformed: while overseeing things at Harvard, Big Lar would start every morning with a bacon, egg and cheese followed by a banana split, a breakfast of champions mimicked by many of the tri-state area's most successful hedge fund managers and a tradition Larry has carried on at the White House. Though the school's had some money troubles lately (the matter of losing an asston of it), no real sacrifices have had to be made. Sure, positions have been eliminated, employees have been forced into early retirement and expansion projects have been shelved but I'm talkin' real live sacrifices, the sort that would give Summers a moment's pause re: heading back to Cambridge, in the event he found himself looking for a new gig. Now, there's this:
Billions of lost endowment dollars later, though, [President Drew] Faust faces a much different reality [than when she started]. Much of Faust's time now is spent figuring out how Harvard can weather the downturn, through layoffs, early retirement packages, cuts in services, even changes to breakfast menus for undergraduates."We can't have chocolate and vanilla and strawberry. We have to decide which one," she said.
Posted by guest , Jul 06, 2009 10:38AM
What! No way this could happen to a place that hosts the HBS. Some one was asleep at the wheel.
Posted by guest , Jul 06, 2009 10:39AM
I promise you, this will never happen at SAC.
-you know who
Posted by guest , Jul 06, 2009 10:39AM
Too Veri, didn't Tos
Posted by guest , Jul 06, 2009 10:41AM
as long as they still supply us with hot coffee to be used as weapon, I have no problem with this.
-hbs prof
Posted by guest , Jul 06, 2009 10:41AM
It's the atrophied wedding band tan line baby hand again.
Posted by guest , Jul 06, 2009 10:42AM
God, back again. Just wanted to add that this was harrowing for me to even read about.
-2/stevie
Posted by guest , Jul 06, 2009 10:43AM
@5 Nice!
Posted by guest , Jul 06, 2009 10:45AM
@6 ftw
Posted by guest , Jul 06, 2009 10:45AM
Wait, so the school that produces the 'best and brightest' minds, which recently did so much good for the world economy, is having trouble too?
How can this be?
Posted by guest , Jul 06, 2009 11:10AM
"We can't have chocolate and vanilla and strawberry. We have to decide which one," she said.
Ummm excuse me why cant you just buy Neapolitan Ice Cream? BOOM problem solved.
Posted by mktmkr , Jul 06, 2009 11:11AM
Perhaps Harvard management should create an oath to go along with those epic douches at HBS. "We will not lose $8 billion in the next financial meltdown"
Posted by guest , Jul 06, 2009 11:12AM
I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that the seat of all knowledge in the world has never heard of neapolitan ice cream.
Posted by guest , Jul 06, 2009 11:18AM
Bess, are we using imperial asstons or metric asstons these days?
Posted by guest , Jul 06, 2009 11:20AM
Can someone tell me why they named a type of multi-flavored ice cream after a 19th century French leader who tried to take on the British and the Russians but got beat and had to go live in exile on Elba Island?? I mean, WTF?? I asked our quants and even they didn't know.
Posted by Bess Levin , Jul 06, 2009 11:21AM
@13 I use metric exclusively.
Posted by guest , Jul 06, 2009 11:22AM
He looks like the penguin http://www.virginmedia.com/images/1baddies-gal-penguin.jpg
Posted by guest , Jul 06, 2009 11:24AM
Yeah...firing Jack Meyer for making too much money was a bad idea.
Posted by Anal_yst , Jul 06, 2009 11:24AM
@14
www.justfuckinggoogleit.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neapolitan_ice_cream
"...Neopolitan ice cream has no relation to the French leader...but rather the city/of Naples, Italy..."
Posted by guest , Jul 06, 2009 11:25AM
@Bess- That's what I thought. Just make sure Greg is on the metric train for the sake of consistancy.
-13
Posted by guest , Jul 06, 2009 11:27AM
@14, At least he didn't get a salad dressing named after him. I mean, you conquer the known world, get named dictator for life, found an empire that will last for hundreds of years, get stabbed to death by your best friend, and then get a salad dressing named after you? Is this some kind of joke?
Posted by guest , Jul 06, 2009 11:28AM
@14 This is a common etymological misconception. Neapolitan ice cream was actually named for Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, who invented it to publicize her department's multi-colored alert levels.
Posted by guest , Jul 06, 2009 11:31AM
@20 dont forget the Cesarean Section. My wife had one of those bad boys and I still get chills anytime I hear that word.
Posted by guest , Jul 06, 2009 11:37AM
Are you talking about the same Larry Punishing-Diet-Coke-Regimen Summers?
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=aaa57c05-d73e-4321-8893-70d5b45577d1
Posted by guest , Jul 06, 2009 11:41AM
@21 FTW !!
Posted by guest , Jul 06, 2009 11:43AM
What does the plain vanilla policy mean for this program?
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2007/12.13/99-finaid.html
"Harvard announces sweeping middle-income initiative"
Posted by Bess Levin , Jul 06, 2009 12:21PM
@23 yes. he washed down the breakfast sandwich/b'nana split with the DC.
Posted by guest , Jul 06, 2009 2:12PM
Someone help me out here. The endowment goes from mid-30's to low 20's. As in billions. That sucks. But it sounds like the banker who still has $20 million in the bank yet dismisses the nanny and cancels the vacation because things are getting "tight."
Can't make budget with a $20 billion endowment?
Posted by guest , Jul 06, 2009 2:28PM
Big Lar?! lol.
Among the choice, I would pick vanilla.
Posted by guest , Jul 06, 2009 2:29PM
@28 I'll bet you wouldn't, racist.
-max waters