“In times like these, you want cash,” Phillips Academy’s Chief Investment officer Amy Falls ’82 told The Wall Street Journal last week.

A year ago, long before the economic crisis currently sweeping the nation, Falls cashed out of Commonfund, an investment fund that ultimately failed last week and suddenly froze withdrawals. Thanks to her initiative – and that of the Academy’s other financial advisors – Andover’s endowment did not suffer from this occurrence.

This is just one...