InsideVandy.com has a couple new stories up on these issues. First, the endowment. Apparently, Provost Richard McCarty is claiming the Tennessean misquoted him in this story. McCarty’s calling it sensationalism and says the reporter, Jennifer Brooks, never identified herself as a reporter. Bad news for Brooks if it’s true, but I don’t see a retraction in the Tennessean yet, so I can’t really make a judgment.
Other than that, the InsideVandy story doesn’t reveal any more useful information, just some repetition from what Beth Fortune already told me about figures.
Exactly by how much the endowment has declined is yet undetermined. According to McCarty, some of the assets have not been valued yet.
“We expect that the endowment’s performance will be in line with or better than our peer institutions, ” Fortune said.
Look, Vanderbilt’s going to be spinning this until Judgment Day, but it’s clear that they’re being realistic about the big-budget spending projects.
Meanwhile, there’s a more detailed story about Wyatt Smith’s victory. I didn’t have too much to say about it earlier, other than it wasn’t too much of a surprise that he beat Fabiani; Wyatt and Lori and nearly universal support among Greeks, and the incumbent status (he’s the old veep) probably didn’t hurt. Still, we can always count on VSG stories to provide some hilarious quotes. This one’s from outgoing VSG president Joseph Williams, who has shown himself to be prone to overstatement. Emphasis mine:
Roars of handclaps and cheering filled the packed Sarratt Promenade following Attorney General Jared Anderson’s announcement of the results of what current VSG president Joseph Williams called a “historic election” in an e-mail to the student body earlier that day.
Really, Joseph? Are we that eager to jump on the Obama bandwagon? Good lord, I thought we didn’t have to hear the word “historic” again until 2013, when Obama is inaugurated as the “first African-American president to be reelected!”
