TO THE EDITOR:
Wednesday night’s Endowment 101 Forum was a small step in the right direction, inaugurating the conversation for making our endowment more transparent.
With the help of Vice Chancellor Karol Gray, Vice Chancellor Julia Grumbles and CEO of UNC Management Company Jon King, we better understand the mechanics of the endowment’s current investments.
For us as students, the scene is set. But now we have to keep the conversation going.
We should be conscientious of where our investment dollars go.
As it stands, the UNC Management Company contends that to maintain the returns, we need to meet donor-directed payout, and there isn’t room for anybody to direct investments.
Administrators also made it clear Wednesday that donors have complete control over what their money supports on campus.
Shouldn’t they also be able to say how their money should be invested?
We left the forum without a clear avenue for engaging in an investment dialogue, but research is already underway on our peer institutions with “A” grades on endowment transparency surveys.
