Socially Responsible Investing and the Tufts Endowment:
An FAQ from your friends at STIR
In our everyday activities, we often encounter similar questions about our motives, and objections to our agenda. We've compiled a list of some of the most common questions here if you'd like to learn in more detail what we're about and why we believe what we do.
What is STIR?
Students at Tufts for Investment Responsibility (STIR) is a movement that has grown out of years of pressing the Tufts administration to invest the endowment in more transparent, democratic, and socially responsible ways. We see ourselves as part of a larger movement taking place on campuses nationwide, as well as in a growing number of businesses and other large and powerful institutional investors, to redefine the nature of investment beyond maximization of profits without regard to political, social, or environmental concerns. In the short term, however, we're trying to empower our school's ACSR, the body that is supposed to help advise Tufts in making these decisions, but which the administration has disenfranchised.
What is the ACSR?
The Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (ACSR) is an existing committee at Tufts which was created to help serve as a bridge between the community and the administration in helping provide input into how Tufts can be a socially responsible shareholder. Many other schools have taken steps to create powerful advisory or oversight committees comprising faculty members, alumni, graduate and undergraduate students, and other democratically chosen representatives, which is what was originally proposed to the administration. Instead, what we have is a small committee (three undergraduates) which has little to no say in any investment decisions. Furthermore, the ACSR is completely cut off from our community by nondisclosure agreements, preventing them from discussing their work or serving as true representatives of the Tufts community, as well as from making better informed decisions with the support of others.
STIR advocates an ACSR that is allowed to be influential, open, and representative of the Tufts community. We wouldn't expect the TCU Senate to do their job if there were only five senators, little control over the student activities fee , and no freedom to discuss their processes. This is more or less the state of the ACSR at Tufts – a non-functioning advisory committee – and unless we pressuring the administration to change this, it's going to stay this way.
Doesn't the endowment belong to the school, not the students, faculty, or alumni?
While some people may believe that the endowment is a private institution's money to use however they please, the reality is more complicated. Universities rely on alumni to donate to the school's endowment, which in turn subsidizes our tuition, our research, and our salaries. Each one of us is intricately tied to the endowment in our daily lives, and our ability to demand access to information about the social impact of its use is an inherent right. Furthermore, the tax-exempt statuses that Tufts enjoys complicate further the idea of Tufts, or any other university, as a purely private institution. This is not a radical belief – rich and prestigious schools such as Harvard, Dartmouth, and Williams have endorsed this notion, opening up part or all of their investment portfolios and allowing their advisory committees to help direct their investment activities to sustainable and socially conscious efforts.
Isn't this unnecessarily politicizing the endowment?
Part of the fundamental truth behind the socially responsible investing (SRI) movement is that all investments are inherently political. We can either ignore the consequences of our investment decisions and focus on maximizing profits, or we can act in a socially responsible manner, as we do when we choose to eat organic or change to efficient light bulbs. Whether you're investing in a local farm or General Electric, your investment decisions carry the weight of intrinsically supporting their business practices, and it's important to know whether those practices are...
environmentally sustainable
respectful of the rights of women, labor, and indigenous peoples
not supporting corrupt governments
providing LGBTQ benefits to workers…
…The list goes on and on. Whatever issue you may care deeply about, the hundreds of millions of dollars that Tufts invests undoubtedly have an impact on it, and we want to make sure it is a positive one.
We're in the middle of a financial crisis! Shouldn't we leave this to professionals who can keep the money safe?
We want Tufts fiscally healthy and secure just as much as anyone else, and our proposals won't affect the bottom line. There are a number of different strategies and subcategories that fall under the umbrella of socially responsible investing, but for now, all we're asking for is a strong ACSR to advise and oversee shareholder engagement - simply fulfilling the rights and responsibilities our school has as a large institutional investor. Tufts holds immense power to vote on shareholder resolutions as well as to directly engage with the corporations it invests in. Taking full advantage of this power, with the help of the ACSR speaking for the community, will have no negative impact on our investment portfolio. Remember, even if Tufts wanted to play it extra safe and only allow to ACSR to advise them on matters concerning 10% of the endowment’s investments, that's still $100 million that could have a more positive social impact. No matter what economic climate, there's no "wrong time" to do this!
How can I learn more?
You can learn more by speaking with us one-on-one, emailing us at STIRupTufts@gmail.com, or finding our Facebook group. We have already posted (or will shortly) the op-ed articles we write on this blog also. In addition, you can check out these websites to learn more about the socially responsible investing (SRI) movement elsewhere:
SRI on Wikipedia
The Responsible Endowments Coalition
You can also come to our meetings!
How can I help?
Our goal is to convince the administration to give the ACSR the power, personnel, transparency, and support it needs to operate properly. To convince them to meet with us, however, we will need to show that we have the sympathy and support of the student body, faculty, graduate students, and alumni. There are an array of ways you can help us achieve our goals that aren't a significant time commitment: we need help with networking, publicity and awareness-raising, drafting proposals, putting together awareness events - however you'd be interested in helping out. If you're unable to donate your time, we'd still love to hear your input or ideas either one-on-one or part of a larger dialogue. We'd love to see you at our meetings – you can find their times and locations on our Facebook group or by emailing us. We're confident we can achieve our goals, but we can't do it without your support!
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