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January 30, 2008, 07:21 AM ET
Pressure on Universities to Use Financial Reserves
As members of Congress question how Harvard, Yale, and other wealthy universities are using their assets, Mike Burns, a nonprofit consultant, has a suggestion for how they can spend their billions of dollars in reserves.
On his blog, Nonprofit Board Crisis, Mr. Burns suggests Ivy League universities provide zero-interest loans to support historically black colleges and other schools that primarily serve minorities. “After all, the Ivy Leagues weren’t really that available to give equal opportunities to the black and Latino communities over the years,” he writes.
Yet not everyone agrees that lawmakers should be scrutinizing the higher-education institutions.
“Even if Harvard or Princeton are public fixtures, they remain private institutions, and, for better or worse, under our legal system they can charge whatever the market will bear,” writes Nathaniel Peters on a blog by First Things, a magazine published by the Institute on Religion and Public Life. Mr. Peters is a junior fellow at the publication.
What do you think? Should universities be pushed to spend more of their financial reserves? If so, what should they use the money for? Click on the comments link below and share your thoughts.
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