~Brandeis InVEST~
Independent Voices for Endowment Sustainability and Transparency
working for responsible shareholder involvement and increased investment transparency at Brandeis University
| The following was unanimously adopted by the Student Union on March 23, 2008 Responsible Shareholding Resolution WHEREAS Justice Louis Brandeis, namesake of our university, once said, "There is no such thing to my mind as an innocent stockholder. He may be innocent in fact, but socially he cannot be held innocent. He accepts the benefits of the system. It is his business and his obligation to see that those who represent him carry out a policy which is consistent with public welfare;" and WHEREAS Brandeis University was founded upon and remains deeply dedicated to the ideal of social justice, as espoused in its four founding pillars, and ought to take an active interest in the impact of its actions; and WHEREAS four student organizations on campus, namely Democracy for America, Students for Environmental Action, Brandeis Labor Coalition, and Student for a Democratic Society, have created an initiative, Independent Voices for Endowment Sustainability and Transparency (InVEST), whose goal is to advocate for transparency and social responsibility with regard to our university's investment; and WHEREAS InVEST has gathered over 400 signatures in support of the creation of a standing committee to address the issue of shareholder responsibility; and WHEREAS peer institutions including Harvard, Brown, Yale, Columbia, Stanford, Smith, Barnard, Vassar, Williams, and Swarthmore, have standing committees to help their universities' investments are carried out in a socially responsible manner; and THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Student Union Senate strongly supports the efforts of InVEST and the principles of financial transparency and shareholder responsibility; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we hereby endorse InVEST’s draft proposal for the establishment of a standing committee; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we strongly encourage the administration to disclose more of its financial investments to the Brandeis community; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call upon the Student Union president to create a standing university committee composed of students, faculty, and administration to evaluate the nature of our university's investments and recommend courses of action with regard to them. |
to contact InVEST, email our coordinator, Alex Melman, at amelman@brandeis.edu or talk to a member of InVEST.