Modern managers of university endowment funds have apparently thought they were some sort of special human beings &ndash; smarter than the rest of us, possessing special clairvoyant powers. They convinced their bosses of that too in some cases, receiving millions of dollars of annual payments from their schools for their alleged supernatural ability to forecast changing asset prices.<br /> <br /> Investing in ordinary stocks and bonds became very uncool. In fiscal year (ending in June 30) 2005, 80 percent of endowments were in stocks and bonds, but by 2016 only 43 percent were, as cooler, allegedly smarter &ldquo;alternative strategies&rdquo; absorbed a majority of endowment money. And colleges paid royally to get the best advice on private equity funds, venture capital projects, derivative trading, hedge funds, and other relatively exotic, high risk forms of investing.