Several former leaders of Harvard’s endowment say they warned university officials for years that they were taking too high a risk with Harvard’s cash investments, according to The Boston Globe.

Two former endowment chiefs, Jack Meyer and Mohamed El-Erian, say they repeatedly told then-Harvard president Lawrence Summers, school financial staff members, and board members that the institution was investing too much of its general operating account with the endowment’s mix of stocks, bonds, hedge funds, and private equity, according to the Globe.

The cash account, which reached $5.1-billion during Mr. Summers’s tenure, lost $1.8-billion in the market downturn, forcing the school to tighten budgets, put off expansion plans, and issue bonds with hefty interest payments to cover the losses. Mr. Summers declined to be quoted in the article.

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