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Video footage of Smith's remarks show mouths falling agape
before students rise to their feet to cheer and applaud as the
pledge is made.
"This is my class, 2019, and my family is making a grant to
eliminate their student loans," Smith said during his speech,
pointing towards hundreds of students dressed in black robes and
mortarboards. "I know my class will make sure they pay this
forward," Smith added.
The black founder and chief executive of the private equity firm
Vista Equity Partners has a net worth of about $4.4 billion,
according to a 2018 estimate by Forbes magazine.
Morehouse is a historically black college, one of more than 100
schools founded to serve black students, mostly in the U.S.
South, before the 1964 Civil Rights Act outlawed school
segregation. Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights hero, is
among its notable alumni.
The weight of student loan debt has become a focus of many of
the candidates seeking to be the Democratic Party's nominee in
next year's U.S. presidential election. Some candidates have
pledged to cancel large portions of the debt and make college
more affordable.
(This story adds full reference to Morehouse.)
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing by Sandra
Maler)
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