Troves of Higher Ed

Endowments, explained

A college endowment is a regulated pool of financial assets invested to support a university’s mission over the long term. Endowment managers withdraw roughly 5% of the fund’s total value each year to help pay for an average of 15% of the school’s annual budget, mostly scholarships, faculty positions, research, and campus operations (read 101).

Over 600 US colleges and universities hold a combined $874B in endowment assets, with a median value of $234M. The largest private endowments are Harvard ($53.2B), Yale ($41.4B), and Stanford ($37.6B). The University of Texas system is the largest among public institutions, with an endowment valued at $46.9B.

Endowments are primarily funded through charitable donations with specific stipulations—also known as restricted funds—designated for scholarships, faculty positions, or research. Unrestricted funds account for roughly 20% of most endowments and are used at the discretion of the school.

University endowments are invested with a long-term view and are spread across various assets to preserve intergenerational equity—purchasing power for both present and future generations.

... Read our full deep dive on endowments here.

Also, check out ... 

> Some of the most bizarre college donations with strings attached. (More)

> Why donors love to give to wealthy schools. (More)

> How the "Yale model" transformed endowment management. (More)

In partnership with Sandbox

Set the Record Straight

'The Devil's Music'

Rock 'n' roll, 101

Rock ‘n’ roll is a form of popular music that originated in the American South in the late 1940s and early 1950s (see timeline). The genre combines elements of other American musical styles—including blues, country, gospel, R&B, Tin Pan Alley, and jazz.

Jackie Brenston’s “Rocket 88" is now widely considered the genre’s starting point, particularly due to its use of distorted electric guitar, a distinction that would define the genre for decades. That same year, Cleveland DJ Alan Freed launched his radio show, rebranding R&B records as “rock ‘n’ roll” to appeal to a broad audience. 

In 1952, Memphis-based engineer Sam Phillips' Sun Records would become the home for Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis—artists whose countryfied take on rock ‘n’ roll was called “rockabilly.” By the 1960s, rock ‘n’ roll was a part of the American mainstream, and was spreading outside the country, too.

... Read our full deep dive on rock 'n' roll here.

Also, check out ... 

> Meet the man who named rock 'n' roll. (More)

> How the Beatles went viral. (More)

> Is blues the mother of all modern music? (More)

Rome's Arena Fighters

Who were the gladiators?

The first recorded gladiatorial combats were held at aristocratic funerals. Amid the hypercompetitive politics of the Roman Republic, sponsoring games with gladiators became a way of winning votes. The games reached an unprecedented scale under the emperors, when gladiators fought in arenas from Britain to Greece. 
 

A new gladiator began by practicing swordplay against a dummy or wooden stake, and would train for months before his first match. Gladiators fought in the afternoon, often after a morning of beast hunts and lunchtime executions. Matches were managed by two referees, who used long switches to signal fouls. While some fights were terminated by a fatal blow, most ended via surrender.
 

The popularity of the gladiators gradually faded, thanks to a combination of rising costs and Christian disapproval. The last recorded matches were held in the fifth century.

... Read our full deep dive on gladiators here.

Also, check out... 

> See images of genuine gladiator armor. (More)

> What did gladiators do when they retired? (More)

> The stories of the women in the arena. (More)

Editor's note: Thanks to historian Garrett Ryan for his contributions to this topic. Check out more of his videos @toldinstone on YouTube.

Best of the Week

We uploaded 160 resources to 1440 Topics last week—here are some of our favorites:

The delicious chemistry of barbecue. 

Why Amsterdam looks so unique. 

Is the way hurricanes are categorized outdated?

The Jeep "wave" and all those little rubber ducks, explained.

Mapping the universe's 1.3 million quasars. 

The world's most extraordinary cheeses. 

Why animals have such different lifespans.

How WeChat became China's app for everything. 

An oral history of the origins of pickleball.

Counting the species on Earth.

Lord Byron, Romanticism’s chief heartthrob.

Why NATO's Article 5 on mutual defense is so misunderstood.

A scientific analysis of famous time travel stories.

The Persian polymath who gave the world algorithms. 

Why George Orwell called Salvador Dalí "disgusting." 

In partnership with Sandbox

Get Your Head Out of the Sand

Sandbox is an app that pairs people together who don’t see eye to eye on politics to help each other find out what they are missing. Sandbox provides structure to one-on-one political conversations, making it easier to have productive conversations outside of your echo chamber.

Each week, you're paired with someone who sees a political issue differently—not to argue or change minds, but to understand each other’s perspectives. A new topic drops every Sunday. Download the app for free today and join the conversation!

Please support our sponsors!

1440 Media 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza, Suite 1212 Chicago, IL 60654

Copyright © 2025, 1440 Media, All rights reserved.