Quotes by Richard Levin

“He had an appeal process open to him, the arbitrator heard his case and made a decision. Its as simple as that.”

“We told him we would take it under advisement.”

“He was a forceful advocate for causes he believed in, ... Sometimes he regarded himself as the conscience of the University.”

“The outstanding performance by the Investments Office in the past year has matched a record of achievement over time that has earned (Chief Investment Officer) David Swensen and his colleagues the highest possible praise and admiration from their peers,”

“Yale?s capacity to fulfill its ambitious mission has been greatly enhanced by their superb stewardship of the endowment,”

“Weve made no commitments at this point, but weve certainly considered the possibility of growing, ... Well make those decisions not based on national trends, but what looks right for Yale.”

“I have many broad responsibilities, ... [Vice President for Finance and Administration John Pepper] is the person with direct responsibility in the area.”

“Of course were willing to listen to concerns that will be raised,”

“You have to have a feel for whats really going to work in the long run, what the issues are that may seem controversial in the short run, ... If youre pretty confident that youve thought it through, youll go ahead. But if theres a lot of controversy and you actually listen to the opposition, sometimes you decide theyre right.”

“I think that my job is more to set direction, define objectives and develop strategies for reaching them, ... One takes account of the various constituencies in both shaping that agenda and persuading people about it, but if the primary goal were just balancing off the different interests of people, that would make the job pretty uninteresting.”