The University has received a $1 million gift to be used for scholarships and endowment investment, University President Jehuda Reinharz and Senior Vice President of Students and Enrollment Jean Eddy announced at last week's faculty meeting.Half the gift will be used for scholarships awarded to both current and future students who show an interest in the fine arts and humanities departments, according to Senior Vice President of Institutional Advancement Nancy Winship. The other $500,000 will be added to the endowment and accrue 5-percent interest annually.

Winship said that the gift will not be used until the fall semester and will be placed in the endowment over the summer. It will be used for both current and future students, she said.

The gift will be used under the names of existing scholarships and financial aid programs. Winship explained that she and the anonymous donor "decided together after a series of meetings that the University's biggest priority was scholarship and financial aid for [Brandeis] students. ... Half of the gift will be available for current use scholarships; it may be students that are already here; it may be students that are coming. ... The other half [of the gift] will go into the endowment where it will spin off five percent a year, and that will continue to be used for financial aid," Winship said.

The first portion of the gift will be available for use by June 30, according to Winship. Winship added that the divisions of disbursement are still unclear.