A Better Idea for Harvard’s Billions—Be the Growth Engine America Needs

On this Fantasy Friday, let’s imagine something radical: Harvard University steps down from its ivy-covered perch and embraces a new role—not as a cloistered institution of elite academia, but as a bold, unapologetic engine of American growth. The gates open, the endowment awakens, and instead of funding hedge fund-style plays behind closed doors, it fuels the next wave of breakthrough science, startup formation, and merit-driven innovation. This isn’t just reform—it’s a renaissance. One where Harvard leads by example, turns capital into creation, and becomes the embodiment of American dynamism.

Harvard University’s $53.2 billion endowment, managed by the Harvard Management Company, is one of the most sophisticated investment machines on the planet. Hedge funds admire it. Private equity titans mimic it. As Warren Buffett once said, “Give me a trillion dollars in free capital and I’ll beat the S&P too.” The question isn’t whether it’s impressive—it is. The question is what it’s *doing* with that immense power.

Right now, Harvard’s endowment plays defense. It protects itself. It grows tax-free, distributes modestly, and whispers about public service while making bold bets in private markets. But it doesn’t have to be that way. And here’s where we flip the script—from condemnation to opportunity.

A Vision for Reinvestment

Instead of worrying about tax exemptions or losing sleep over political backlash, Harvard could choose a different path. A *bolder* path. A *smarter* path. One that would transform it into a shining example of American exceptionalism in action.

Imagine this: Harvard reinvests its endowment gains—not just into market funds, but into its own *research ecosystem*. Not to burnish credentials, but to *commercialize breakthrough innovation*. Gene therapies, quantum computing, clean energy, advanced AI—the kinds of things America needs to outcompete China and dominate the next century.

Look at Moderna, born from Harvard-MIT collaboration and fueled by decades of academic research—a blueprint for what could happen if innovation stays on campus.

### Free Speech Meets Free Enterprise

Rather than outsourcing its brainpower to Silicon Valley, Harvard could become its own incubator, accelerator, and capital funder. Picture an academic environment where the researchers stay on campus, launch the startups, own the equity, and split the royalties—not with venture capitalists, but with the Harvard Management Company itself. A virtuous cycle of profit and purpose.

This is how we turn Harvard into the envy of the world—not just a symbol of academic prestige, but a self-sustaining engine of merit-based prosperity.

And let’s be clear: the values must match the mission. If Harvard wants to be the flagship of freedom, it must embody free speech, ideological diversity, and intellectual courage. It must become the university where students and faculty are judged not by politics, but by ideas and results.

Let merit rule. Let innovation lead. And let the funding follow excellence—not ideology.

From Ivory Tower to Industrial Powerhouse

In doing so, the endowment becomes not just a fund, but a *flywheel*—one that spins out world-changing discoveries, reinvests the rewards, funds scholarships without restriction, builds labs, pays professors, and yes—still has enough left over to plaster “Veritas” on a few more buildings.

The economic upside? If just 5% of Harvard’s endowment funded successful commercialization at scale, the tax revenue and job creation could rival entire industries. That’s growth that benefits not just Harvard—but America.

No one would care about tax status then. Because the results would speak for themselves.

Instead of operating like a hedge fund in academic robes, Harvard would finally be what America needs it to be: a university that backs up its prestige with performance, its endowment with action, and its mission with measurable results.

And if they need a guiding star, let them take it from the words of President Trump himself: “America doesn’t need more critics. We need builders, doers, and dreamers who act. We will be a nation that starts winning again, and winning like never before.”

The opportunity is there. All Harvard has to do is seize it.