Today, at 3pm, SLAM traveled to the offices of the Harvard Management Company, the Harvard subsidiary tasked with investing Harvard University's endowment. It's a 6 mile subway ride away from Harvard Yard on the 16th floor of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. We we went there to ask for a meeting about prioritizing worker compensation over new investments.

When we walked into the lobby and asked for elevator access, the guard at the desk made a phone call to the HMC offices. Here's what the first five seconds of the phone call went like:

Guard: Hello, we have students from Harvard here for the Harvard Management Company.
Secretary: Uh oh.
Guard: Uh oh, why uh oh?

At this point, we were informed that HMC had recently changed its visitor policy so that all visitors have to have an appointment with a specific employee in order to get through. We didn't have a meeting, and the secretary did not give us any contact information for who we should talk to in order to set up a meeting. Rather, we were told to find an HMC employee who would be willing to sit down with us first, and then set up the meeting. HMC's employee list is not available online, nor to our knowledge anywhere in the public domain. The HMC's visitor policy is simply not viable for students who wish to raise concerns about HMC's practices. When SLAM last delegated HMC in late October, there was no such visitor policy. When we delegated, they politely sat us down in their reception area and set up a quick meeting with us and a portfolio assistant to field our concerns.

While changing the visitor policy to prevent student delegations is misaligned with Harvard's core values of truth and education, it is understandable for a standard investment firm. But then we were informed that we would not be allowed to leave anything for HMC staff- not a letter, not our report, not any contact information. As students who pay tuition to Harvard, we are clients of Harvard Management Company. Where else is this permissible? This addition to the visitor policy has nothing to do with safety, but rather is further evidence that student concerns, no matter how serious they are, are not welcome in Harvard's decision making process.

We highly doubt that HMC treats the rest of its visitors this way, and would especially not say,"Uh oh" at the sight of them. If Harvard Management Company wants to use the Harvard name and be a part of the Harvard community, an attitudinal change at HMC offices is in order. HMC must recognize that as an investment firm owned by Harvard University, it has to treat Harvard students with respect.

We'll be back.

Harvard Management Company Headquarters at 600 Atlantic Avenue, Boston