Jumbo Invests, But Responsibly?

Two years ago, our school was the backdrop of a heartwarming story of a dedicated freshman with an idealistic dream of human rights advocacy, who followed through on his plan of action and achieved his goal with enough hard work and charisma.

This freshman, who had joined the ranks of the Tufts anti-war movement early on in his first year, began to ask difficult questions about the injustices of war profiteering, and how such a troubling but distant issue could have touched our pristine campus here on the other side of the world. When he and other curious students realized that the university’s finances were closed books, these concerned undergraduates met with the director of the endowment’s investments, and then the president himself, and finally made a presentation to the Board of Trustees. By this time, these students had become very concerned with the lack of disclosure that the administration was giving, and they politely but forcefully made their wishes known. They wanted Tufts’ investment portfolio to be opened up to scrutiny and reflection, and and an advisory committee of faculty, administrators, graduate students, and undergraduates to serve as a mouthpiece of the Tufts community that would help draft input on how to invest the endowment responsibly by voting on shareholders’ proxy resolutions.

Luckily, everyone’s hard work paid off. The board agreed to create the committee, and our enterprising hero was put at the helm, with his wish to help steer the endowment’s investment down a socially just path finally realized. It was a storybook ending: intellectual curiosity manifested, active citizenship embodied, change realized.

Unfortunately for everyone, the fairytale has turned out to be much more Charles and Diana than Cinderella and Mr. Charming.

Fast forward to today: our hero is frustrated. Despite protests, the advisory committee is only three undergraduates, not the originally proposed full slate of faculty members, administrators, and graduate students, cutting off access to the community’s resources and crucial opportunities for dialogue with others. Worse, they have been placed under virtual gag order, forced to sign nondisclosure agreements forbidding them from discussing the institution’s financial activities—including who we’re invested in—with anyone else. Without democratic input from the Tufts community or educated opinions from faculty authorities, the committee is forced to struggle alone through the demanding research necessary to offer a moral voice to Tufts’ vote on shareholder proxy resolutions. They are cut off from the community they’re supposed to represent, but receive no support or communication from the administration either, who may or may not even be considering their input.

While a large portion of our community is still ignorant of this plight, some students, faculty, and others have already turned up a skeptical eyebrow based on what little they have heard. Some say the endowment shouldn’t be politicized, even though all investments in any business are intrinsically political actions. Others may think undergraduates should stay out of complex financial decisions, despite the fact that student movements at Columbia, Swarthmore, and many other schools have succeeded in influencing proxy voting and opening up investment portfolios. And of course, many fear for Tufts’ financial health in lieu of the credit crisis and spiraling stock markets, even though research has shown that making responsible investment decisions does not have to mean lower profit margins—not at all.

When I first heard this story, that of a well-intentioned, idealistic freshman organizer, now a marginalized, frustrated, and struggling junior trapped in bureaucracy, I felt my pride in Tufts flicker and fade somewhat. This frustration is not based in some radical, untenable agenda, but in the desire to bring about social, labor, environmental justice with the $1.5 billion our school is empowered with. Our mission statement—and yes, I believe this school, including its endowment, is truly and wholly a communal ours and not some foreign entity—speaks of “active citizenship,” “serving the common good,” and “a dedication to globalism.” The Students at Tufts for Investment Responsibility (STIR) think it’s about time that our institution started behaving the way it has always asked us to do. Stop obfuscating, and open up the endowment. Strengthen our advisory committee, and let it speak. We hope you will join us in our demands.

This article was published in the November 3, 2008 issue of the Tufts Observer.