LETTERS

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ENDOWMENTS

“Land-Grab Universities” (April 2020) called for reconciliation efforts at schools that have endowments derived in part from the taking of Native American lands in the 19th century. South Dakota State University has dedicated around $636,000 in annual endowment income from these lands to programs and support for Native students. If all 52 universities in your investigation were to do the same, approximately $22 million would be available annually for these kinds of programs, based on a 4.4% average payout on a combined total of $495 million, the estimated inflation-adjusted present value of their endowments.

Cornell University, with the largest endowment, would invest $4 million a year in Native programs. The next largest, Montana State University, would pony up $1.6 million. And the University of California system, where I