Do you know where Wesleyan invests its money?
Neither do we.
This Sunday, come out to engage with the discussion and witness the WSA vote on the endowment transparency resolution, submitted last week by the Socially Responsible Investment Coalition. If passed, this resolution will be a major sign of support for endowment change from the student body, and especially for unparalleled accountability in investment information. This is a long time coming, so witness history!
Having lots of supporters in the room will really help to show just how many people value this cause, so please! Bring your dinner, and your energy.
Date: Tonight, Sunday, October 16
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Place: Usdan 108
Check out our five demands for investment transparency after the jump.
1) Any contracts Wesleyan has with its fund managers that do not require the managers to disclose (to the Investment Office, for transmission to the Wesleyan community) the names of the companies in which they invest the University’s money must be renegotiated such that they require managers to disclose this and other information specified below (see clause 3);
2) It must become permanent policy of the Wesleyan Investment Office that contracts with the fund managers who invest the University’s direct holdings require the managers to create and release (to the investment office, for transmission to the University community) a report that includes details of what they are doing with the University’s money;
3) This report must include the name of the fund manager in question and the firm with which s/he is associated, as well as the names of the companies in which the fund manager has invested, as of the time of the issue of the report. In addition, the report must state the total amount, in dollars, that all of Wesleyan’s holdings with that manager comprise at the time of the issue of the report. Such a report must be generated quarterly by each fund manager and made available online, in a password-protected venue, to all Wesleyan students, faculty, staff, and alumni by the investment office. In addition these managers of Wesleyan’s direct holdings, as well as the managers of all other mutual funds and hedge funds in which Wesleyan invests, must fill out a questionnaire based on the New York City Employee Retirement System (NYCERS)#, also to be made available to the University Community in the same protected format;
4) The Wesleyan Chief Investment Officer (CIO) must, on the same quarterly basis, make available to the University community a basic scheme of the distribution of Wesleyan’s other assets. This scheme must include the total amount in dollars these assets comprise at the time of the issue of the report, and the percentage of this total amount devoted to each class of investment at that time;
5) The trustees of the University must begin a dialogue with the CIR with the end of broadening the powers of that body to co-construct University investment policy. The CIR must immediately be granted all the information necessary (see clause 3) to exercise its most basic charted responsibilities, namely, the duty to submit, on behalf of the University, proxy votes and proxy resolutions to all of the firms in which Wesleyan directly invests. In order to most effectively fulfill its role as advisor to the Investment Office and the Trustees regarding investment policy, the CIR must have access to the same information that is available to the Trustees.
Full text of the WSA resolution here.
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