Syracuse Students Get Their Own Hedge Fund

Syracuse University's Martin J. Whitman School of Management has established a hedge fund to give finance and accounting students stock-market experience using real money.

According to the university's student newspaper, the Daily Orange, the Orange Value Fund will have a budget of $1 million when it begins during the fall 2006 semester. The money has been contributed by investors and university alumni. The fund will be supervised by Associate Professor of Finance Fernando Diz. Investment decisions will be made by upperclassmen, working with the fund's board of directors.

Melvin Stith, the Whitman School's dean, said the fund's use of real money is what distinguishes it from similar programs at other universities. Students will be selected to participate in the program based on their GPA and their activities within the school, Stith said.