Yale Campus Hit by VC Disclosure Issues

In a letter filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week, Yale University’s employee unions allege that the university violated federal securities law by failing to report its position in some companies controlled or managed by members of its investment committee.

While the charges made in the letter focus on a publicly traded Texas oil company, Aviva Petroleum, Yale’s pattern of investing with groups tied to Yale’s inner circle also taints its $1.84 billion private equity portfolio, says Anthony Dugdale, a research analyst with New Haven, Conn.-based union Federation of Hospital and University Employees.