It is time and past time for the lefty State of Massachusetts government to consider taxing the university endowment funds. As they become ever more in need of cash flow, it could well become corrupt lefty against corrupt lefty.
It probably isn’t that simple legally for them to just dip into their endowments for day to day operations due to strings attached to some donations when they were made. Some endowments can be used to fund certain departments or to fund scholaships that can be offered to certain classes of students or those students who are promising music or arts students. Yale’s 53 billion in endowments isn’t just one big pool of money lying around...it’s a multiple of legally defined smaller endowments, defined scholarships , legally special awards, or legally defined funds limited to upkeep of grounds or the physical buildings but nothing else. Unless laws are passed that colleges can shift endowment funds around outside of their legally defined uses or endowment restrictions under which alumni members or businesses donated them...then such colleges are stuck. Yale can’t just draw from them to replace billions of cancelled federal funds.
Not saying Yale should get the funds but the endowment systems need to be revised and regulated via state and federal laws to allow re-allocation of endowment funds by colleges when needed.