Just as it veered from donor intent and started charging tuition, Cooper Union rouses NY attorney general, now investigating possible "mismanagement" of endowment.

"In what should be a ringing alarm for nonprofit boards across the country long accustomed to minimal scrutiny or accountability, Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman of New York has signaled that the laissez-faire approach to nonprofit governance is over. Mr. Schneiderman’s office has sent letters to the board members of Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.... The investigation, reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal, is focusing on the board’s management of its endowment." -- James B. Stewart, the New York Times