The president of the Harvard Management Company left open yesterday the possibility of moving to external administration of the University’s multibillion-dollar endowment in order to quell growing criticism of fund-manager compensation rates.

“Maybe it’s not possible to maintain world-class investment managers in an academic setting,” said Jack Meyer, whose in-house company invests Harvard’s endowment, in a free-wheeling discussion with students in Lamont Library last night.

He repeatedly came back to the option of external management, often without prompt, and said pressure from within the company’s board could force such a change.

Alums in recent months have objected to fund manager bonuses that topped $30 million in two cases last fiscal year, and students protested those wages outside the library yesterday.

Already, 45 percent of the endowment is managed outside of Harvard, but Meyer said any move toward entirely external management was far from imminent.

Meyer was generally frank with students during his presentation, which offered a rare glimpse into the framework and operations of higher education’s most successful management company.

He shared internal portfolio numbers and the benchmarks against which the often lofty bonuses of Harvard’s fund managers are calculated.

And bucking a tight-lipped tradition, Meyer also hinted that the University endowment had risen from $19.3 billion, where it stood as of June 30, 2003.

“Fortunately, it’s a little bit larger than that now,” Meyer said.

Last month, David W. Scudder, vice president of trusts for the management company, made similar remarks in an interview with The Crimson.

“I think it’s going to be quite a satisfactory year, unless things really turn around in the next three or four months,” Scudder said.

Discussion participants were greeted last night outside Lamont by a handful of protestors who sought to draw a contrast between the fund-manager salaries and ongoing layoffs at the Harvard libraries.

“Lay off Jack Meyer and save millions of dollars annually,” yelled Tom Potter, a Harvard Law School library employee.

Meyer said last month that the management company board had lowered the cap on fund-manager compensation, and University President Lawrence H. Summers said the cap would prevent payouts on the magnitude of last fiscal year.

Inside Lamont last night, Meyer entertained a more sympathetic crowd, gathered by the Harvard Investment Association, but was at times pressed to answer hostile lines of questioning.