Knowles said he doesn't foresee problems getting alumni support in the future.
"There is concern about what we are doing," Knowles said. "There is interest in what we are doing."
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Interest may linger, but in the end the most important factor affecting philanthropy toward Harvard will be the economy, a reality not lost on those who toasted Neil Rudenstine and Alan Greenspan in the same breath.
Fundraising insiders privately talk of "donor fatigue." It remains to be seen how long Harvard's alumni and friends will continue to feel the philanthropic fury that has engulfed them for the past five years.
Or as one woman in attendance yesterday confided to a friend wryly, "I made the donation. Now I can't retire."