Tougaloo College is getting $10 million from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and his wife, producer Patty Quillin.
The couple announced their donation to the private, HBCU (Historically Black College/University) in Mississippi earlier this week, saying the gift will fund scholarship programs.
“This $10 million donation is really just a small bit of what’s needed to provide kids the opportunities that Tougaloo can offer,” Hastings said of the endowment, according to WAPT-TV.
Half of the donation will go to need-based scholarships, and the remaining $5 million will go to Tougaloo students who attend Brown University as part of the Brown University-Tougaloo College Partnership, Tougaloo's vice president of institutional advancement, Sandra Hodge, told The Clarion Ledger.
“HBCUs have been vastly undervalued for a long time,” Hastings and Quillin said in a statement. “They have an incredible track record of graduating so many Black leaders across the U.S. — doctors, lawyers, engineers and more. By investing in the extraordinary students who attend Tougaloo and Brown, we’re investing in America’s future.”
The couple's $10 million donation comes nearly two years after they gifted Spelman College, Morehouse College and the United Negro College Fund with $40 million each.
“We hope this additional $120 million donation will help more Black students follow their dreams and also encourage more people to support these institutions—helping to reverse generations of inequity in our country,” the couple said at the time.
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