The actively managed portfolios of elite endowments beat passive funds over the long term, according to Yale's annual report. Yale University's endowment has offered a rebuttal to Warren Buffett and other proponents of low-fee, passive investments. In its 2017 annual report, released this week, the Ivy League school's investment office argued in favor of the active management strategies long employed by chief investment officer David Swensen and his staff. The top ten U.S. university endowments "amaze," Yale said in the report. "Their well-diversified portfolios crush the returns produced by U.S. stocks."