How could Harvard screw up their endowment so badly?

There is an article in The New York Times by Geraldine Fabrikant entitled "Endowment Director Is on Harvard's Hot Seat" about Harvard having some financial difficulty related to its endowment fund in these difficult markets. Actually, this does not surprise me at all, particularly since I never understood how they could be so cavalier about putting massive amounts of money into so-called "alternative investments" earlier in the decade. The story reminded me of an old joke allegedly from the Boston area:

Cashier for a supermarket express checkout line to a young customer with too many items: "Are you from MIT and can't read or from Harvard and can't count?"

It would not be as funny if it were not so true.

-- Jack Krupansky