Nevada university system loses $300,000 in Enron

Jennifer Knight

Friday, Feb. 15, 2002 | 9:11 a.m.

Nevada's university system lost more than $300,000 of investment money becaus of the collapse of Enron Corp.

The loss was discussed during an investment committee meeting Thursday. The system has two large pools of money with more than $280 million, a small portion of which was invested in Enron stock and bonds, the panel was told.

"Absolutely every bit counts," Kathleen Payne, director of banking and investments for the university and community college system said. "But it's relatively a small piece of our portfolio. The more diversified we are, the less of a hit we take."

Like other corporations and municipalities invested in the Standard & Poor's 500, the university system lost money, Payne said.

Under its investment plan, all revenue taken in from tuition, book sales and state appropriations goes into one account, called the operating fund. That pool, which was invested in mutual funds, lost $159,000 to Enron, about 0.08 percent of the total.

Another pool of money made up of donations and gifts had a small investment in Enron bonds. That endowment fund lost $152,000, Payne said.

Regent Mark Alden, investment committee chairman, questioned why the system was invested in Enron bonds, which he argued were a more objectionable investment than the stock investment in Enron.

"Even though it's just chump change, it begs the question why were we even there?" Alden said. "What practice led to us having bonds there in the first place? They weren't solid to begin with."