University Endowments Need Federal Oversight

How Credible Is It That George Washington University “Lost” A Gift From Iran?

This is a brief story of a gift that was initiated by the Shah of Iran to the George Washington University (GW) in 1974, which inexplicably evaporated into thin air some 45 years later in 2019 and then miraculously reappeared in 2022. The management and status of the Aryamehr-Iran Endowment at George Washington University should be investigated and reported to hold GW accountable to its benefactors, acknowledge the generosity of the Iranian people, support Iranian education and assess if what has happened at GW is common at other American institutions, requiring government supervision of university endowments.

In 1974, the Ministry of Higher Education of Iran (at the direction of the late Shah) made a gift to GW, creating an endowment (Aryamehr Chair) to support Iranian education (the 5-page agreement was signed by Iran’s Ambassador to the U.S.). It was the first endowed chair at the GW School of Government and Business Administration and the largest university chair at GW. This endowment was in part established because the Shah and the president of GW (Lloyd Elliott) were Free Masons and knew each other. This gift was so important to GW that President Elliott traveled twice to Iran to secure this endowment of $1 million, which was more than 5 percent of GW’s total endowment in 1974, a massive transformational gift and if invested in the S&P 500 would have amounted to over $100…