Swensen Calls Yale Newspaper Editor a `Coward' as Spat Heats Up

(Bloomberg) -- David Swensen, head of Yale's $27 billion endowment, rarely speaks publicly about the fund's enviable track record and investments.

Now he's found himself in an ugly spat with the student newspaper over coverage of the endowment and subsequent publication of an email exchange in which Swensen called the editor-in-chief a “coward” and asked if she understood “simple English.”

The dispute flared up over his op-ed column in the Yale Daily News, which he asked the staff to publish without editing. His March 1 piece took exception to the paper's reporting in February of a teach-in event led by student activists that criticized the endowment's investments.

He said the student reporter didn't contact Yale's investment office for the February article. The newspaper on March 3 issued a correction over the news story.

Editors of the newspaper eliminated what they called an erroneous sentence in Swensen's piece that said he wasn't contacted by a reporter, which he deemed as editing.

Read More: Yale Endowment Blasts Low-Fee Critics, Says Gains Would Lag

On March 4, the paper published an editor's note along with email exchanges between Swensen and student editors. Swensen said the editors failed to mention that his opinion piece was edited against his wishes.

He criticized the decision as “disgusting” and “inexcusable.” He also wrote that he's “furious” and asked, “Don't you understand simple English? - The piece was to be run without editing - I wrote that in all capital letters - What is the matter with you?”

A spokesman for Yale on Monday didn't immediately have a comment. When discussing the endowment, Swensen wrote in his column that the Yale Daily News “ignores the journalistic imperatives of checking facts, providing context and maintaining balance.”

The editors said in their note that “in a national climate in which journalists have increasingly come under attack, we are disheartened that a Yale administrator considers this an appropriate way to voice concerns to the News.”

The paper said in a statement on Monday that it “strives to report responsibly and accurately on campus issues, and we are always open to publishing criticism of our work.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Janet Lorin in New York at jlorin@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.net, Mary Romano

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