Restricted Gifts and University Endowments

Iris Goodwin (Associate Professor of Law, University of Tennessee College of Law) has posted her article on SSRN entitled Congressional Roundtable on College Endowments – Restricted Gifts Testimony.

Here is a summary of her article:

Restricted purpose gifts potentially bear upon that portion of the university’s endowment that can be used toward undergraduate financial aid and other tuition relief. In these remarks, I describe what a restricted gift is, the requirement under state common law that such restrictions obtain in perpetuity, the grounds for relief under the common law, and the grounds for relief and other relevant provisions of UPMIFA. The provisions of UPMIFA that are applicable to restricted gifts were drafted against the background of the common law doctrine and under UPMIFA common law relief is still available.