Activist group targets Yale's investment strategy

By David Altschuler

Yale's highly successful--and secret-- investment strategies have kept the University's multi-billion dollar endowment growing for years. However, Yale's investments have recently come under fire from a new student group that wants to make sure that Yale's financial success does not come at the expense of its ethical responsibilities.

Students for Corporate Responsibility (SCR) met with the University's Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility (ACIR)--a panel consisting of alumni, students, and faculty that counsels the Corporation on investment issues--on Wed., Mar. 26, and presented a petition which calls for investment practices based on the left-wing group's ethical standards.

"We don't think there should be such a dichotomy between financial and social responsibilities--the two should go hand in hand," SCR member Joann Lo, ES '97, said.

SCR demands that Yale publicly divest from tobacco companies and companies operating in countries that are sites of human rights violations, such as Burma and Nigeria. In addition, their petition calls for ACIR to make its voting records on shareholder resolutions public to the Yale community, and that it promote responsible investment practices.

Political science professor Rogers Smith, who signed the petition, said that it is important to keep Yale's business practices in check. "I think that, generally, Yale should try to invest in enterprises that are responsible in their labor and environmental practices. I think there are plenty of opportunities for making investments without investing in the worst companies," Smith said.

ACIR student representative Benjamin Creighton, PC '99, said that SCR's concerns are being taken seriously, and that ethical considerations do matter to the Corporation. "Ethical considerations do play a large role because the trustees of the Yale Corporation are in the spotlight," he said. Back to News...