I used to wonder whether Bill Ackman was reading things I wrote in the Wall Street Journal because he said similar things afterwards. But one time I hadn't yet submitted my text and Ackman said the same thing. I concluded that Ackman and I are just on the same wavelength.
The McMahon letter refers to Ackman as someone who is thinking sensibly about these issues. I agree and suggested to Harvard that it talk directly with Ackman and act proactively. By acting reactively Harvard feeds the notion that it can't be trusted and needs to be micromanaged in order to take the proper actions.
Quoted below is my recent WSJ letter on administrative bloat at Harvard.
A better way to tell is to look at the ratio of administrators to faculty.
May 2, 2025 2:31 pm ET
Mark Mishler argues that Hillsdale College is more efficient than Harvard University because it has a higher student-to-employee ratio (Letters, April 30). But teaching is only a small part of what goes on at the university. In my years on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, I spent less than 1% of my time teaching students about neural network programming, epilepsy, neuroscience and supervising residents in neurology. I spent roughly 75% of it doing research, 10% on seeing patients and the rest on writing grant proposals and serving on the institutional review board for research.
A better metric for inefficiency is the ratio of administrators to faculty, which has ballooned in recent decades thanks to governmental regulations and social engineering. Reducing that, and streamlining the process for applying for grants, is where bloat can best be mitigated."
I used to wonder whether Bill Ackman was reading things I wrote in the Wall Street Journal because he said similar things afterwards. But one time I hadn't yet submitted my text and Ackman said the same thing. I concluded that Ackman and I are just on the same wavelength.
The McMahon letter refers to Ackman as someone who is thinking sensibly about these issues. I agree and suggested to Harvard that it talk directly with Ackman and act proactively. By acting reactively Harvard feeds the notion that it can't be trusted and needs to be micromanaged in order to take the proper actions.
Quoted below is my recent WSJ letter on administrative bloat at Harvard.
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/how-inefficient-is-harvard-administrators-faculty-hillsdale-873e0718
"How Inefficient Is Harvard?
A better way to tell is to look at the ratio of administrators to faculty.
May 2, 2025 2:31 pm ET
Mark Mishler argues that Hillsdale College is more efficient than Harvard University because it has a higher student-to-employee ratio (Letters, April 30). But teaching is only a small part of what goes on at the university. In my years on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, I spent less than 1% of my time teaching students about neural network programming, epilepsy, neuroscience and supervising residents in neurology. I spent roughly 75% of it doing research, 10% on seeing patients and the rest on writing grant proposals and serving on the institutional review board for research.
A better metric for inefficiency is the ratio of administrators to faculty, which has ballooned in recent decades thanks to governmental regulations and social engineering. Reducing that, and streamlining the process for applying for grants, is where bloat can best be mitigated."