Given how much the endowment has dwindled — to about $4.8 million — the practical effects of the challenge are uncertain.
"That's not surprising," said Ford Bell, the association's president, "given how much their endowments have shrunk and given how much their individual donors' portfolios have declined".
Why do private research universities have much larger endowments?
Knight's gift and its tax consequences should reignite a dormant debate over how much the endowments of America's richest universities cost taxpayers.
Having so much of the endowment in a single asset "is against everything I stand for," Mr. Michaelson said.
For example, universities should tell their students how much of their endowment funds are used for tuition relief.
But before oil euphoria kicks in, Brazil's leaders should ask themselves why so many other countries have made bigger returns from a much smaller natural endowment.
In an additional complication, it turned out much of the endowment was in pooled investments, mixed in with funds from other institutions, which put them beyond RBF control.
"If you spend too much of your endowment, you are eating your seed corn," said Carol Campbell, the vice chancellor of finance at Texas Christian.
