President Oden announced by email today that Carleton has lost 60 million dollars in the past three months.

I modified the Carleton endowment graph to show the recent drop

President Oden writes “Carleton’s Endowment portfolio finished September at approximately $590 million, declining about 8% since the end of June,” (emphasis added). According to Carleton’s website, the endowment finished the 2008 Fiscal Year at $647,822. The Carleton fiscal year ends June 30th. Therefore, the Carleton endowment has lost almost $60 million in the past 3 months.

Given the recent financial chaos, it makes sense that the endowment would lose money. Wachovia, a bank managing a substantial part of Carleton’s endowment, was forced to merge with Citibank.

Oden writes in the email “We want to assure you that the college has sufficient cash to operate normally and that we will continue to anticipate and make plans to ensure continued excellence at Carleton.” What does this mean? Will there be no changes to the long-term college plan? Shouldn’t the college at least consider delaying construction of the Arts Union?

President Oden said to CSA senate last year that the five-year outlook was ambitious and that it relies on the assumption that endowment growth and donations will remain constant. Last night at a panel discussion professor Al Montero predicted, “The bailout will not work. There will be a recession, it will be global.” If this isn’t cause to openly discuss Carleton’s agenda for the next decade, I don’t know what is.