However, if we take a closer look at the endowment report from Rice University. We are able to discern that Rice did invest more than its peers in the oil industry, but the investment loss is about 49 million (-0.7%), not 300-400 million. The link is below:
https://investments.rice.edu/reports
So where is this 300-400 million rumor? The fact is that Rice endowment supports university operation budgets annually about 40% of the total cost. We can say that past few years Rice earned money through investment to provide the operation spendings, but last year it didn't earn "enough" to cover the expense so there is a 309 million decrease in endowment value. So apparently 309 million is "not what they lose on the investment," it is fixed annual spending.
Also, some people mentioned Vanderbilt University gets a 10% more investment increase on their endowment value. However, if we refer to the financial report of Vanderbilt University, we can find that they also experience negative investment return (-0.1%) last fiscal year, but they got other funding sources like donations, so that is why we see there is a 10% increase. Here is the link:
https://finance.vanderbilt.edu/accounting/report/index.php
The short answer is no.
Rumor has it that Rice University invested in the oil industry profoundly so that it got a tremendous investment loss of 300-400 million(3-4 亿美元) last fiscal year. And the information is referring to the link below: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/02/19/college-and-university-endowments-post-worst-returns-five-years
However, if we take a closer look at the endowment report from Rice University. We are able to discern that Rice did invest more than its peers in the oil industry, but the investment loss is about 49 million (-0.7%), not 300-400 million. The link is below: https://investments.rice.edu/reports
So where is this 300-400 million rumor? The fact is that Rice endowment supports university operation budgets annually about 40% of the total cost. We can say that past few years Rice earned money through investment to provide the operation spendings, but last year it didn't earn "enough" to cover the expense so there is a 309 million decrease in endowment value. So apparently 309 million is "not what they lose on the investment," it is fixed annual spending.
Also, some people mentioned Vanderbilt University gets a 10% more investment increase on their endowment value. However, if we refer to the financial report of Vanderbilt University, we can find that they also experience negative investment return (-0.1%) last fiscal year, but they got other funding sources like donations, so that is why we see there is a 10% increase. Here is the link: https://finance.vanderbilt.edu/accounting/report/index.php