Because I can’t resist, let’s start with a quote:

Faust is lowering expectations [regarding the endowment returns]. Which is appropriate…You wouldn’t want people to get their hopes up, then have things come in lower….What you want to do is set expectations at 30%, then beat them slightly, so it appears to be actually *good* news…

—Your faithful blogger, in this post*

Harvard announced today that its endowment was down 27.3 for FY 2009, slightly better than had been predicted.

Pravda The Harvard Gazette announced this as generally good news.

Despite the severe market correction experienced in the fiscal year, Harvard’s long-term performance remains strong.

Harvard Magazine has a more useful story. (It’s long, and I haven’t had a chance to digest it yet.)

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P.S. Richard Thomas called 25.8%, which was pretty close as well….