OP - ED Battle with the Big Apple

While Rice may not have lost as much as of its investments as other universi t ies, its endowment still took a hit dur ing the most recent recession. For fiscal year 2009, Rice incurred an 18.2-percent loss on the e n d o w m e n t ' s investment returns, worth about $838 million. The university also spent $215 million of the endowment , $55 million of which was recouped in endowment gifts, according to unaud i ted reports issued from the Office of the Vice President for Investments Treasurer. The repor t ' s final n u m b e r s show that the endowmen t , which was va lued at $4.61 billion at the end of June 2008, had drop d to $3.61 billion as of this June, is a result of the endowmen t losses, the university has manda ted a 5 percent budget cut for each depar tment . Exactly what will be cut has yet to be de termined . The endowment , which originally consisted of $4.6 million that founder William Marsh Rice left to the university in his will in 1904, grows on interest and gifts each year. A portion of the e n d o w m e n t is budge ted be tween d e p a r t m e n t f u n d s , schola r sh ips , m a i n t e n a n c e a n d athletics, and the r ema inde r tha t grows is invested in va r ious asse t s , such as private equi ty f u n d s , real esta te , t imber a n d energy investm e n t s and United States Bonds. Despite a 17to 18-percent drop in global stocks and bonds last year, the endowmen t performed better than those at many of Rice's peer inst i tut ions. Rice, a long with most nat ional universit ies, reports its annual endowment each February to the National Association of College and University Business Officers. Associate Vice President for Inves tments Claire Nelson said for fiscal year 2009 Harvard University reported a 27.3-percent loss in its $36.6-billion endowmen t , and Yale University reported a 24.6-percent loss from its endowment of $22.9 billion. The nat ional average for a university endowment loss fell at a round 17.2 percent . "We had a good, solid performance in a tough year," Nelson said. "We haven't changed our approach policy-wise. We started O see ENDOWMENT, page 5 Nobel Prize recipient selected to speak at commencement