The lawmakers said they want information on individual, not aggregate sources for the fund, and questioned “why UVIMCO has been placed off-limits regarding our requests for information and documents.”

UVIMCO, the University of Virginia Investment Management Co., manages more than $7.9 billion in investments for U.Va. and its foundations, including the new strategic fund.

“Certainly, we appreciate the scale of our legislative requests but they are commensurate with the enormity of the fund in question,” the letter states. “Given the gravity of the matter at hand, you are not free to define or limit your responses to parameters of time, subject, or personnel that may better suit the university’s interests.”

The university did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

However, George Keith Martin, a former board member who preceded Goodwin as rector, defended the fund in an online column Sunday for The Washington Post, calling it a “bold step to enhance the quality of the student experience.”

The effort furthers the work of the board in 2015, “when it increased the spend rate on the endowment to devote more funds for financial aid” to make a university education more affordable, Martin wrote.