TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — Megacorporation mogul Jeff Bezos's 2019 divorce has ultimately led to the largest gift in Northeastern State University's history.
Philanthropist, author, and former Amazon business partner MacKenzie Scott's private foundation's $17 million donation to NSU was made public by the Tahlequah-based university on Nov. 24.
WATCH: Northeastern State gets $17M donation from MacKenzie Scott
Scott helped Bezos attain much of his power in the Amazon empire when they were married, and upon divorcing she was given rights to tens of billions of dollars of the couple's wealth. She then pledged to give most of it away to various schools and nonprofits.
Scott made headlines again on mid-November by donating $700 million to 15 historically Black colleges & universities.
"We have incredible artifacts here and memorabilia from the original Cherokee National Female Seminary," Dan Mabery of NSU University Relations and External Affairs told 2 News.
"(The decision to give to NSU) means they did their research. They looked into our history."
That history is of higher education for the American Indian community, which continues today with 35% of its student population, according to university demographics..
Student body president and Cherokee Nation citizen Aubrey Cagle, originally from Wagoner, is one of them.
"When they told us, it's just hard to conceptualize $17 million," Cagle said. "I think it just speaks to the culture here at NSU, and the longstanding traditions we have of caring for students and looking out for each other. About a third of us are first-gen (college students). We have (45%) students who come from low-income backgrounds."
The university now has some decisions to make, however.
"When we're going to be talking to people, the question is going to be, 'What are you guys going to do with it?'" Danny Johnson of NSU Alumni Relations said. "Because that's the really neat thing about a gift like this. It's totally unrestricted."
"With a gift of this magnitude, we're going to be looking into all sorts of possibilities on how we can utilize the funds to benefit our students," Mabery said. "It's just still too early to tell."
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