Strapped Colleges on Collision Course With Donors Over Restricted Gifts

Facing their most perilous economic times in decades, universities risk provoking big benefactors’ wrath by selling off assets or tapping restricted endowments to pay for basic needs, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Colleges’ plans to auction off artwork, close campus radio stations, and divert dedicated gifts to other purposes have sparked court fights and verbal battles at Brandeis University, near Boston; Nashville’s Fisk University; St. Olaf College, in Minnesota; and Trinity College, in Connecticut. Experts say more such cases are likely as universities look for ways to offset the impact of declining donations and endowments.