I don't have much time today so I'll tell you a quick story and give you a collection of links.
Harvard's big endowment loss has been the main topic of conversation around the campus for the past week. For example, last Friday, my wife and I were fortunate to get two tickets to see the Emerson Quartet perform at the NEC. Next to us one of our companions for the night, a professor who gave us his extra tickets, was joking about how Harvard could save money by firing certain individuals and turning the Harvard owned Alston property into a theme park. At that moment a lady sitting right in front of us turned around and exclaimed, "that's a good idea!"
Two lessons here:
1) Everyone is very worried as colleges across the country are under tight financial pressure. Postdocs looking for faculty positions will have a tough time this year.
2) If you are in Boston/Cambridge, watch out! You never know if the person sitting in front of you is a Harvard professor.
NPR's Onpoint: Colleges in Trouble
Boston Globe: Harvard's endowment plunges $8 billion
Harvard Crimson: Faculty of Arts & Sciences Freezes All Faculty Salaries, Cuts Searches
"Postdocs looking for faculty positions will have a tough time this year"
Tell me about it. I picked the wrong year.
Read the comments for the Boston Globe piece. Not much in the way of sympathy for the big crimson H.