Spring Break
Investment committee to be formed
by Rebecca Klein
Editorial assistant
News | 11/11/08
Posted online at 2:57 AM EST on 11/11/08
Student Union President Jason Gray '10 sent an application by e-mail last Friday to all undergraduate and graduate students, inviting them to apply to be a part of the Committee on Endowment Ethics and Responsibility.
The e-mail was addressed to the Brandeis Student Committee and stated that "the Student Union is establishing a Committee on Endowment Ethics and Responsibility that will serve as a channel for community involvement in the investment decisions made by the University pertaining to social and ethical issues."
Faculty members are also invited to be part of this committee. All applicants will be invited to an information session, and there will be interviews to follow.
The committee will research and make recommendations to the University Board of Trustees about targeted divestment, new investments, changes in investment levels and shareholder resolutions. Committee members will meet with the University's chief investment officer, Deborah Kuenstner, if they have questions about potential investments.
"Essentially, the Student Union has always had the authority to make recommendations to the executive and investment committees of the Board of Trustees about levels of investment or [about] initiating shareholder resolution," Gray said. "What we're doing is not changing the process but formalizing it; we're actively utilizing the channel of communication that's available so students can be involved in a high level," he explained.
In the past, students have made recommendations to the Board of Trustees with access points through the Student Union, the Graduate Students Association, the Faculty Senate and President Reinharz.
In the '80s, students effectively got the Board of Trustees to divest from South Africa and companies doing business in South Africa because of apartheid. In recent years, students also got the Board of Trustees to divest from Darfur and any companies doing business in the Sudan.
Committee members will be required to attend bimonthly meetings as well as to do research in order to make effective investment recommendations and investment reports to the Board of Trustees.
"We have a selection committee that's made up of Executive Board and Senate that will be making these selections," Gray said.
Gray hopes that the application process will result in a strong group of undergraduate and graduate students for the committee. He hopes to get undergraduates of all years so that there are students on the committee next year, and graduates who are "maybe from the Green MBA program or from the Heller school program in sustainable international development," he said.
"I'm looking for students who are willing to balance both social and ethical issues with an understanding of the University's needs to make the most of its investments [from] its endowment because there's a social good in us having money as a University," Gray said.
The e-mail was addressed to the Brandeis Student Committee and stated that "the Student Union is establishing a Committee on Endowment Ethics and Responsibility that will serve as a channel for community involvement in the investment decisions made by the University pertaining to social and ethical issues."
Faculty members are also invited to be part of this committee. All applicants will be invited to an information session, and there will be interviews to follow.
The committee will research and make recommendations to the University Board of Trustees about targeted divestment, new investments, changes in investment levels and shareholder resolutions. Committee members will meet with the University's chief investment officer, Deborah Kuenstner, if they have questions about potential investments.
"Essentially, the Student Union has always had the authority to make recommendations to the executive and investment committees of the Board of Trustees about levels of investment or [about] initiating shareholder resolution," Gray said. "What we're doing is not changing the process but formalizing it; we're actively utilizing the channel of communication that's available so students can be involved in a high level," he explained.
In the past, students have made recommendations to the Board of Trustees with access points through the Student Union, the Graduate Students Association, the Faculty Senate and President Reinharz.
In the '80s, students effectively got the Board of Trustees to divest from South Africa and companies doing business in South Africa because of apartheid. In recent years, students also got the Board of Trustees to divest from Darfur and any companies doing business in the Sudan.
Committee members will be required to attend bimonthly meetings as well as to do research in order to make effective investment recommendations and investment reports to the Board of Trustees.
"We have a selection committee that's made up of Executive Board and Senate that will be making these selections," Gray said.
Gray hopes that the application process will result in a strong group of undergraduate and graduate students for the committee. He hopes to get undergraduates of all years so that there are students on the committee next year, and graduates who are "maybe from the Green MBA program or from the Heller school program in sustainable international development," he said.
"I'm looking for students who are willing to balance both social and ethical issues with an understanding of the University's needs to make the most of its investments [from] its endowment because there's a social good in us having money as a University," Gray said.
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