"People at the same time would be well served, as the Harvard community is well served, by an investment strategy that enables the investment company to do its best," he said.
Investors at Harvard Management Company (HMC) would not comment "Harvard Management is careful about the companies it takes key active positions in, but the final authority on these questions is the [Corporation] committee at the University that establishes the guidelines," he said. Meyer confirmed Harvard's investment in Playboy and offered several caveats about the information contained in the 13F form. He underscored that HMC does not consider all the stocks it owns--taken individually--to be solid investments. Officials also note that Harvard's short and long investments nearly cancel each other out, making the University's net benefit negligible. But those upset with the investment argue that the University--regardless of its particular strategy--has placed itself in a compromising position by investing in companies like Playboy. HMC has almost universal discretion in determining Harvard's investments. Only in special cases does a committee of the Corporation--the Committee on Shareholder Responsibility--restrict HMC from certain industries for ethical reasons. In these instances, HMC is not allowed to use any investment strategies which involve holding stocks in these companies. Currently, there are only two sweeping guidelines restricting investment. The University does not invest in firms in the tobacco industry. In addition, Harvard has set guidelines about investment in companies that operate in South Africa. Fineberg said that establishing similar restrictions for companies like Playboy is unlikely, but that the University must hear the community's reaction. "It's exceptional to [set up restrictions] but there is a process to make decisions like that," he said. "I think we have to be open to the possibility that we want, for reasons of institutional policy, to refrain from certain investments.