Education

Yale Endowment Head Slams Student Editor As A ‘Coward’ After Editing His Column

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Rob Shimshock Education Reporter
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The head of Yale University’s endowment called the student newspaper editor a “coward” and questioned her understanding of “simple English,” according to a Monday report.

David Swensen, who manages the Ivy League school’s $27 billion endowment, made the remarks in an email chain leaked by Yale Daily News after the student paper edited a guest column he had instructed it to publish unaltered, reported Bloomberg.

Swensen’s op-ed criticized Yale Daily News’ coverage of a February teach-in event at which student activists critiqued the school’s investments. The endowment head asserted that Yale Daily News did not contact the school’s investment office before publishing the piece, but the newspaper disputed that claim.

The reporter and an investment office official “did actually have an email exchange prior to the Feb. 5 story, and I can confirm that they communicated,” Yale Daily News Editor in chief Rachel Treisman wrote to Swensen. “We are happy to run this piece but have to cut out that factual inaccuracy. I understand that you do not want your column edited and we respect that request, but cannot in good faith include that part of it.”

“I am furious – Don’t you understand simple English?” Swensen wrote back. “The piece was to be run without editing – I wrote that in all capital letters – What is the matter with you?”

The endowment head said he found Treisman’s edit “inexcusable” and “disgusting” in subsequent emails, eventually calling her a “coward.”

“I saw the email exchange,” Swensen told Treisman. “Your reporter did not check any facts and failed to follow up on [OMITTED]’s suggestion to look into the Vanguard funds. If you had engaged with me, I would have modified the sentence, not eliminated it.”

The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to Swensen and Treisand for comment but received none in time for press.

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