The latest from Harvard

Harvard University’s admission that it lost $8 billion from its $36 billion
endowment fund, as staggering as it sounds, may grossly underestimate the true magnitude of the
loss between from July 1 through Oct. 31 2008.  According to a source close the Harvard
Management Corporation (HMC), which runs the fund for Harvard, the  loss is closer to $18
billion if the losses on the fund’s illiquid investment are realistically appraised.

That’s Edward Jay Epstein, via Megan McArdle.  As Megan points out, no one should be surprised by this and in fact I would be surprised if that were the full extent of the damage.