Does the Native American case for reparations add up?

The University of Minnesota is at the centre of a battle for Native American reparations. The university sits on tens of thousands of acres of land that once belonged to indigenous tribes. That land was sold in the 1800s for a fraction of what it’s worth today – and some think the university, which has an endowment of around $3.2 billion (£2.6 billion), should fork out to the descendants of those who once lived there.

Minnesota is not alone. Cornell University in New York is facing demands to cough up. The University of Wisconsin at Madison also benefitted from land taken from 250 tribes following the signing of the Morrill Act by president Abraham Lincoln in 1862. Madison bowed to pressure from students back in 2021 by displaying the flag of the Ho-Chunk Nation on campus to acknowledge the land taken from the tribe. But gestures alone are not enough to satisfy the demands.