A Proposal to Create an Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing

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A Proposal to Create an Advisory Committee
onSocially Responsible Investing
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project
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Table of Contents
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project

• Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)

• SRI Boston College

• Examples at other Universities

• Committee Proposal

• Get Involved

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Socially Responsible Investing(SRI)
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project

• Doing Good while doing Well

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Three Tenants of SRI
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project

• Social Screening
• Shareholder Advocacy
• Alternative Investing

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Social Screening
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project

• Proactive
• Positive Screening
• Avoidance Screening
• Re-active
• Divestment

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Qualities of a good corporate citizen
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project

• Respectable employee relations
• Strong records of community involvement
• Excellent environmental impact policies and
  practices
• Respect for human rights around the world
• Safe and useful products

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Examples of Social Screening
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project

• The Domini 400 Social Index
• Avoids alcohol tobacco gambling nuclear
  power pornography firearms and military
  contractors
• Rewards corporate citizenship diversity
  employee/labor relations environment safe
  products
• Harvard University Divested all tobacco stocks
  and has prevented their future purchase
• US Conference of Catholic Bishops
• Screens out firms primarily engaged in the
  development or production of military weapons

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Shareholder Advocacy
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project

• Shareholders have the right to introduce and vote
  on proxy (shareholder) resolutions regarding
  certain company matters
• Shareholder Advocacy describes investor efforts
  to submit and vote corporate proxy resolutions as
  a means of positively influencing company
  behavior.
• Dialogue with Corporate Management
• Phone Calls Letters Meetings

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Shareholder Advocacy Successes
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project

• Through shareholder resolutions over 200
  corporations were pressured to break all ties
  with Apartheid South Africa
• General Motors signed the CERES
• principles a corporate environmental code (an
  environmental code of conduct).

Generally only 10 of the votes are needed for
social and environmental shareholder resolutions!
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Alternative Investing
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project

• Providing struggling communities with access to
  badly needed capital.
• Tools for building healthy communities
• Affordable housing
• Job creation
• Micro-loans

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SRI Boston CollegeWhat we know and what we
dont.
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project
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What we know
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project

• BC has an endowment of approximately 1.1
  billion overseen by 10 money managers.
• BC pays up to 10000 annually for the services
  of the Investor Responsibility Research Center.
• The Treasurers Office provides only a broad
  guideline for voting on shareholder resolutions.
  No vote is mandatory.
• BC has no social or environmental screening
  practices in place.

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What we dont know
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project

• If or how the money managers vote on resolutions
• The proxy voting guideline provided to the money
  managers
• The publicly traded securities held in the
  endowment portfolio

Why the unnecessary secrecy
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What we are missing out on!
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project

• Without an SRI advisory committee
• BC will not be using its numerous shares to vote
  in favor of these 2004 social and environmental
  shareholder resolutions that would require
• Costco
• Develop a culturally sensitive land acquisition
  policy specifically in Cuernavaca Mexico.
• Wal-Mart
• Prepare an Equal Employment Opportunity Report.
• Prepare a Sustainability Report.

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Where this leaves us
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project

• Boston College is only half living up to its
  commitment towards social justice!

Are we a University of Men and Women for Others
With our time (volunteering) With
our money
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What we should think about
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project

• Is business a special or unique game outside
  other human issues
• Do those who work in finance stand outside the
  Jesuit mission

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SRI at Other UniversitiesWho How
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project
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Examples of Universities with Active SRI Advisory
Committees
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project

• Barnard Brown Columbia Dartmouth Earlham
  Hampshire Harvard Princeton Smith Stanford
  Swarthmore U. Minnesota U Penn Vassar
  Wesleyan Williams Yale

proposed
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Size doesnt matterEndowment Size (FY 2002)
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project

• Hampshire 30 Million
• Barnard 126 Million
• Earlham 214 Million
• Wesleyan 484 Million
• Vassar 554 Million
• Smith 810 Million
• Swarthmore 894 Million
• Williams 1.2 Billion
• Brown 1.4 Billion

• U. Minnesota 1.5 Billion
• Dartmouth 2.4 Billion
• U Penn 3.4 Billion
• Columbia 4.2 Billion
• Stanford 7.6 Billion
• Princeton 8.3 Billion
• Yale 10.5 Billion
• Harvard 17.5 Billion

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Portfolio Transparency
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project

• These institutions all have various levels of
  portfolio transparency.
• All SRI Advisory Committees have access to
  information regarding endowment securities.
• Many of these universities also provide this
  information to their community.
• Others go as far as making the information
  completely public.

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SRI Advisory Committee _at_ BCWhat we are asking
for
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project
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We the Boston College Community want
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project

• Our University to adhere to its Mission Statement
  and the Jesuit ideals it was founded upon-
• Boston College commits itself to the pursuit of
  a just society

From the BC Mission Statement
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In light of that we are asking for
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project

• 1. Boston College to establish a 12 member
  Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible
  Investing that would include
• Undergrad Students
• Graduate Students
• Faculty Staff
• Jesuits
• 2. Transparency for the committee and the
  University Community.

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In light of that we are asking for
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project

• 3. Boston College to use their endowment to
  partake in shareholder advocacy.
• 4. Boston College to allow the process to be Open
  and Democratic.
• What does Boston College need to hide
• Lead the way to a more just society!

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Get InvolvedWhat you can do to help
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project
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Learn More
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project

• Pick up the full proposal on your way out.
• Talk to someone in GJP that knows more about SRI
  and our proposal.
• Research this yourself. There is lots of
  information and documentation that can be found
  with just your web browser.

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Spread the Word
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project

• Talk about SRI with your friends and family.
• Communicate the need to join us in this mission
  to all of the organizations you are involved
  with.
• This presentation and our proposal can be found
  at www.bc.edu/gjp or can be obtained from any
  member of GJP.

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Commit to the Initiative
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project

• Personally sign the Letter of Proposal to be
  presented to our Board of Trustees.
• Get your campus organizations to sign onto the
  initiative.
• Vote or run in the first Committee Elections.

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Thank you for your time energy and dedication!
The Advisory Committee on SRIAn Initiative of
the Global Justice Project