Swarthmore College Faculty Resolution on Fossil Fuel Divestment and Reinvestment
https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/12ityjLoJ8fJVPsLY5FYTYQmweKfomQzFhXX7bsxbfYM/pub
https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/10jURfGJUcXIN7wKaIkedqfSYbF7GcbTZM7xjfWry00o/pub
The student group attempted to form the committee after it discovered several unethical firms in which the endowment was invested. This included $12 in the tobacco industry and $3.2 in Disney, which contracts international sweatshops.
The fact that Conscious Consumers could find out where the endowment was invested and how much money went to each sector is significant. Swarthmore will no longer disclose the amount of money invested in particular industries.
Also significant was the group’s discovery of the ban on ethical divestment and the explanation Swarthmore offered for the ban at the time. A Phoenix article from the time reports:
Conscious Consumers is also questioning one of the mandatory guidelines included in the Endowment Presentation to the Board of Managers. Section VII of the book states, “As a matter of policy, the Investment Committee manages the endowment to yield the best long term financial results, rather than pursue long-term objectives.” But Suzanne Welsh asserts that although the guideline exists, it does not preclude social objectives from being pursued in addition to financial objectives. However, the evaluation of these objectives would have to be a decision made by the entire community, not by the Investment Committee alone. “The guideline was created because it is not the Investment Committee’s job to make the decision of which social objectives to pursue. This is simply a process statement,” said Welsh.
First, I want to note that the only publicly available copy of Swarthmore’s full investment policy is the document referenced by Conscious Consumers, which was written in 1997. And I only knew to search the archives for Endowment Presentation to the Board of Managers because it was referenced in this article. This should underline the difficulty members of the Swarthmore community face in trying to learn even the most basic information about the ban.
Second, Welsh’s comment completely undermines the way that the Board uses the ban today. According to her, the “ban” simply serves as a “process statement” by clarifying the responsibilities of the Investment Committee. When the policy says, “the Investment Committee manages the endowment to yield the best long term financial results, rather than to pursue other social objectives,” it only refers to the investment committee. The policy does not mean that the Investment Committee or the Board gets to overrule the rest of the Swarthmore community when the community wants divestment, as it so clearly does.
College Should Divest From Arms Manufacturing
Don’t Buy Into Divest-From-Israel Campaigns
Try to find a different, pro divestment source!! Also, get the scan up of the article anyway.
alumni start Israel divestment campaign
https://swarthmorephoenix.com/2009/01/22/israeli-divestment/
seven Swarthmore professors send a proposal for a partial fossil fuel divestment option to the Board
from SCRIBD: “During a 32-day student sit-in at Swarthmore College (see http://bit.ly/swatdiveststory) in the spring semester of 2015, a group of faculty developed a proposal and paper that the faculty at large and the Board of Managers considered. The faculty passed a resolution calling for divestment of separately managed funds from the Carbon Underground list of 200 fossil fuel companies holding the largest reserves. The Board of Managers met on May 1-2, 2015 and rejected all divestment proposals.”
Swarthmore rejects the student referendum demanding an end to the 1991 ban
https://www.swarthmore.edu/news-events/response-to-investment-policy-referendum
Swarthmore celebrates the success of shareholder activism and offers a revisionist history of the ban
fossil fuel industry lobbying group praises Swarthmore for refusing to divest
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/may/3/swathmore-college-rejects-divesting-from-fossil-fu/
https://swarthmorephoenix.com/2015/09/24/giving-a-gold-star-for-all-the-wrong-reasons/