Harvard, MIT Use Law To Limit Legal Payouts While Sitting On Endowments Worth Billions

Daily Caller ^ | June 11, 2025 | Emily Kopp

[T Ruth]

Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have leaned on a century-old law to avoid paying out large sums in lawsuits despite having billion-dollar endowments, legal records show.

President Donald Trump has accused Harvard of abusing its Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax-exempt status in his ongoing battle against the Ivy League over antisemitism concerns and a lack of ideological diversity. But one advantage of nonprofit status has gone under the radar: Harvard and MIT exploit a state law capping tort claims against charities at $20,000, despite overseeing world-class investment firms managing endowments of $53.2 billion and $24.6 billion, respectively.

“If [Massachusetts residents] get hit by an Amazon truck and become a quadriplegic, be assured that Amazon will be paying them many millions of dollars to look out for them for the rest of their lives. But if they get hit by a Harvard University truck, with a $50 billion endowment, they’re not going to get squat,” Carmine Gentile, a Massachusetts senator, said in an April hearing in support of his bill to strike the charitable immunity cap.

Massachusetts is one of just three states with so-called “charitable immunity,” according to the Nonprofit Risk Management Center, and it imposes the lowest cap on potential damages.

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Legislators have repeatedly attempted to modify or eliminate Massachusetts’s exceptional treatment of charities. ... A Harvard lobbyist pressed state lawmakers on these bills each year, lobbying records show.

Harvard did not respond to requests for comment. MIT declined to comment.

“Caps on lawsuits mean universities can break the law with a smirk, knowing the worst they’ll face is a minor fine they’ll pay with your tax dollars,” said Isaiah Hankel, an expert and consultant in higher education and the job market.

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TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS:

[T Ruth]

"Harvard and MIT exploit a state law capping tort claims against charities at $20,000, despite overseeing world-class investment firms managing endowments of $53.2 billion and $24.6 billion, respectively."

[TennesseeProfessor]

So charge them under federal civil rights law, not state laws.

[T Ruth]

If a Harvard student bus negligently runs over and kills your toddler, that is a state law tort. You get $20K in damages. Federal civil rights laws have nothing to do with it.

[dadfly]

good grief. do something, you do nothing congress. get rid of these fake charities.