I am lucky to be at a similar kind of institution, Stanford, which rescinded their request for money. Bravo. But I think the general problem is one that happens with most (all?) institutions as they mature. They forget their mission--1/n https://twitter.com/TamarHaspel/status/1253320907835109378

educate young people, help disadvantaged people thrive, feed the hungry, all of which are challenging because progress and value-added by the organization is almost impossible to quantify. Attention turns instead to what can be quantified--budget. The first step toward 2/n

corruption is to accept ear-marked money from donors that does not fully align with core mission. Distracts and disperses focus but also usually ends up sucking in resources from the core mission. EconTalk episodes on this problem include Munger on Love, Money, Profits, and 3/n

Non-Profits, Mueller on the Tyranny of Metrics and Levin on a Time to Build. It is important to remember that "Harvard" says is not a sentient entity with desires, but an emergent eco-system of alums, faculty, admin, etc. So sentences like "Harvard should..." are not so 4/n

meaningful. They imply that there is something called "Harvard" that has decision-making power/responsibility/desires etc. So while a part of me shares Tamar Haspel's (and check out her EconTalk appearance also!) feeling of betrayal, it is of course, a weird response. Harvard 5/n

and other institutions, corporations, etc that take money they "shouldn't" are part of a larger set of issues related to norms, purpose, and incentives that surround American institutions. The outrage we feel is actually a symptom of a wider cultural failure, I suspect. 6/6