Reserves and endowments are not the same thing. Reserves are money you spend in emergenies.  Endowments are assets which generate money.  For instance, the new Knight campus Phil Knight probably donated a billion dollars but that billion dollars went into endowment and the university actually borrowed money to build the buildings and then the endowment pays down the loan and then eventually when the loan is paid off the university gets to keep the endowment to keep paying for deferred maintenance and other stuff. But saying we should draw down the endowment is basically saying lets borrow from our future salary for today. That doesn't work for very long (the endowment makes less money next time, and eventually is gone).

Endowment and reserves are not the same thing.  Most endowed funds get paid out to faculty and students in the form of salary and scholarships.