1. The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
A Proposal to Create an Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing
BEFORE THE PRESENTATION:
What you might need:
1) The sign up sheet for people who want to get up dates or who want to be on the GJP listSERve
2) Copies of the Proposal
3) A Letter for the group to hopefully sign afterwards.
OK, let’s begin, the Presentation:
1) Introduction for speaker
2) Thanks for taking the time to hear this presentation b/c the GJP has put a lot of work into researching this topic, meeting with the administration, and getting the word out.
3) The GJP has been the driving force behind this campaign and beautiful presentation, but we have also had invaluable advise and input from other undergrads, graduate students, faculty, and Jesuit Preists.

2. Table of Contents Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
Table of Contents
Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)
SRI & Boston College
Examples at other Universities
Just List the Main Points of the Presentation
Committee Proposal
Get Involved

3. Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
Socially Responsible Investing (SRI)
1) Common misconception that SRI is a bunch of tie-dye wearing hippies only investing in granola and frisbee companies.
This is not the case, SRI is a time-tested investing strategy that has consistently shown equal, if not better, returns than non-SRI investment techniques. Why? The basic idea is that SR companies won’t cheat on their balance or accounting sheets and won’t have to spend millions on lawsuits or environmental clean up.
2) SRI is utilized by dozens of firms and institutions across the world:
In Boston: Walden Asset Management and Trillium Asset Management are two Socially Responsible Mutual Funds
The National Conference of Catholic Bishops
The National Jesuit Conference
“Doing Good while doing Well”

4. Social Screening Shareholder Advocacy Alternative Investing
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
Three Tenants of SRI
Social Screening
Shareholder Advocacy
Alternative Investing
SRI can be broken down into three unique activities, or tenants.

5. Social Screening Proactive: Positive Screening Avoidance Screening
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
Social Screening
Proactive:
Positive Screening
Avoidance Screening
Re-active:
Divestment
Social Screening is “Rewarding the good” by investing and “Punishing the Bad” by withholding investment or selling your shares.
Positive Screening: Investing money in “Good Corporate Citizens” (flash to next slide for a few seconds) as a reward for their making a positive contribution to society or the environment.
Avoidance Screening: Not investing money in corporations or industries that harm society or the environment
Divestment: Selling shares in a corporation or industry whose policies are harmful to the environment or society

6. Qualities of a good “corporate citizen”
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
Qualities of a good “corporate citizen”
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
The kind of corporation that may be sought to purchase when employing a “Positive social screen”

7. Examples of Social Screening:
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
Examples of Social Screening:
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
1) The Domini 400 Social Index is like the S+P 500 but WITH both avoidance and positive screens in place. Similar screens are used by nearly every socially responsible mutual fund.
2) An example of divestment and an avoidance screen is Harvard University which decided to sell (divest) all their tobacco stocks and form a screen in order to prevent buying them in the future.
3) The US Conference of Catholic Bishops employ a number of avoidance screens, this is only one example.

8. Shareholder Advocacy:
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
Shareholder Advocacy:
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
1) The idea behind Shareholder Advocacy is that you keep the shares of a company even if you aren’t psyched with the company’s social or environmental record—you’re going to use your power and rights as a shareholder to try to make corporate policy more acceptable.
2) The key to using your shareholder power is the Shareholder Resolution which is like a referendum for shareholders
-to make this concept easy to understand, use a made-up example, like “suppose a shareholder of Exxon-Mobile decides she is concerned about global warming, she can introduce a SHAREHOLDER RESOLUTION asking Exxon-Mobile to research alternative energy or draft a report on how its policies are effecting global warming, now if I also own shares of Exxon, I will be able to vote on this resolution and if enough shareholders vote, the company has to do it regardless of what the corporate management wants to do”
3) Dialogue is another type of shareholder advocacy. If an institution (like a private university?…) owns a large number of shares in a particular company, that company is going to listen to what the institution has to say.

9. Shareholder Advocacy Successes:
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
Shareholder Advocacy Successes:
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).
More companies stopped doing business in South African because of Shareholder Resolutions than because of Divestment. It was more effective for concerned shareholders to keep their stocks and vote on the shareholder resolutions than it was to sell their stock.
2) GM has a notorious environmental record. Clearly the corporate management doesn’t care too much about the environment, but the Shareholder do—enough to make the company adopt the CERES principles.
3) The magic number is about 10% of the votes needed in favor of a shareholder resolution. When the number gets around here, the corporate management gets nervous and doesn’t want bad publicity, so it will generally negotiate with the shareholder that introduced the resolution.
Generally only 10% of the votes are needed for social and environmental shareholder resolutions!

10. Alternative Investing :
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
Alternative Investing :
Providing struggling communities with access to badly needed capital.
Tools for building healthy communities:
Affordable housing
Job creation
Micro-loans
Getting money into places that have none: inner city and rural areas
This is generally done through investing in Community Development Loans
The National Jesuit Conference does this as well as many large Socially Responsible Mutual Funds

11. SRI & Boston College What we know… and what we don’t.
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
SRI & Boston College What we know… and what we don’t.
Time to see how BC is or is not performing as a Socially Responsible Investor

12. The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
What we know:
BC has an endowment of approximately $1.1 billion, overseen by 10 money managers.
BC pays up to $10,000 annually for the services of the Investor Responsibility Research Center.
The Treasurer’s 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.
All of BC’s buying and selling of stocks is done off-campus—it’s all “outsourced”
-BC has vested its money managers with the power to independently vote on shareholder resolutions (we’ll get to this later)
2)The IRRC is absolutely essential to all Socially Responsible Investors, used by all mutual funds and institutions. It keeps close tabs on thousands of companies, it tracks which shareholder resolutions are coming up for vote.
3) (List point #4 before point #3 because it is a smoother transition with next slide) BC has NO screens in writing that prohibit the school from investing in certain companies or industries
4) BC’s money managers (which have the power to vote for us) are provided with this “Broad Guideline” (direct quote from the Treasurer’s Office) however, that is as much as we know and this poses some problems…(switch to next slide for the problems)

13.  Why the unnecessary secrecy? 
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
What we don’t know:
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
We don’t even know IF the guideline is used—that is we don’t know if the money managers even bother voting or if the shareholder resolutions go strait into the trash. Assuming they do vote, we don’t know how they vote, so we can’t tell if they are voting in a manner consistent with social responsibility and BC’s Jesuit Mission.
We don’t know the content of the “Broad Guideline”—it could be very specific or it could say something like, “BC is a Catholic Jesuit University, please vote accordingly…”
3) We don’t know what our school is invested in. By Publicly Traded Securities we mean domestic and foreign stocks and bonds. Why do we need to know? Well, we can’t vote on shareholder resolutions without knowing what we’re invested in…(perfect transition to next slide)
(OPTIONAL-you can mention that the last sentence “why the unnecessary secrecy?” isn’t implying that there are people at BC who are deliberately hiding this information, it’s just that the questions about Socially Responsible Investing haven’t been asked recently.)
 Why the unnecessary secrecy? 

14. What we are missing out on!
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
What we are missing out on!
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.
This is why we need to know what we’re invested in!
-if BC is invested in Costco or Wal-Mart it will miss out on the opportunity to vote on these resolutions:
The Costco one is particularly interesting to BC b/c BC sends an immersion trip to Cuernavaca each summer.
Wal-Mart is notorious for gender and racial discrimination

15. The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
Where this leaves us:
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?
The Crowd Stunner Slide!
Mention that BC has an unbelievable reputation for service and volunteering and is certainly a university of “men and women for others” when it comes to our time (click to check off box)
But on the other hand, the way we invest is being completely neglected, which makes us ask…(switch to next slide)

16. What we should think about:
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
What we should think about:
Is business a special or unique game outside other human issues?
Do those who work in finance stand outside the Jesuit mission?
Assert that we obviously need a strong investment policy to bring high returns to BC and make lots of money to stay competitive and hire good professors and build a new student center or dorms.
BUT…we need to find a balance between making lots of money and doing it in a socially responsible way…
IS THIS POSSIBLE? Let’s see how other universities dealt found the balance…(switch to next slide now)

17. SRI at Other Universities Who & How?
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
SRI at Other Universities Who & How?
The idea of SRI at Universities is decades old, starting around 1970

18. Examples of Universities with Active SRI Advisory Committees
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
Examples of Universities with Active SRI Advisory Committees
Barnard Brown Columbia Dartmouth* Earlham Hampshire Harvard Princeton Smith Stanford Swarthmore U. Minnesota U Penn Vassar Wesleyan* Williams Yale
This is only a list of schools we researched. It is not all universities with an SRI advisory Committee and it is by no means all schools with an SRI policy in place, that list would be much much larger (about 25% of all universities in the country).
Many people want to know about other Jesuit Universities…
To our knowledge, only one of the 28 schools has done anything and that was the University of San Francisco which adopted a very comprehensive policy this past summer that includes 5 avoidance screens and a commitment to shareholder advocacy
*proposed

19. Size doesn’t matter… Endowment Size (FY 2002)
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
Size doesn’t matter… Endowment Size (FY 2002)
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
Another common concern is that BC doesn’t have enough money to be a Socially Responsible Investor.
This is simply not true because the Advisory Committee is virtually costless, the biggest cost is the services of the IRRC (slide #12) which BC ALREADY PAYS FOR!!

20. Portfolio Transparency :
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
Portfolio Transparency :
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.
We also took a look at how these Universities made their investments public information.
Obviously the Advisory Committees of each school had full access to the investment info b/c they need it to make recommendations and vote on shareholder resolutions. Many made info available to their university community (students, staff, faculty, alumni)
A common misconception is that BC pays its money managers to find competitive stocks and if that info is made public then anyone will be able to get it and invest in the same things without paying thousands for the services of money managers. This is untrue as well because even the largest Mutual Funds, if you go on their websites you can find what they are invested in.
(Optional—if someone asks--We understand that some investments, such as hedge funds or venture capital are secrets and very few institutions release this info—we are just asking that the Boston College community have access to all publicly traded securities (domestic and foreign stocks and bonds).

21. SRI Advisory Committee @ BC What we are asking for…
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
SRI Advisory BC What we are asking for…
We’ve learned about SRI
We’ve seen that other schools have adopted it
We’ve heard about this Advisory Committee…
Now let’s put it together, let’s find out what this committee is and how we hope to bring SRI to BC.

22. We, the Boston College Community, want
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
We, the Boston College Community, want
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”
By adopting this proposal and bringing SRI to BC, we will help to fulfill our mission statement (as quoted on the slide).
We mentioned how BC is a university of men and women for others when it comes to service and our time…
Now let’s extend that commitment to social justice into our investing practices.
From the BC Mission Statement

23. In light of that, we are asking for:
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
In light of that, we are asking for:
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.
This is where we discuss the Committee:
Talk about membership: 10 voting members—2 undergrads, 2 grads, 4 faculty, 1 Jesuit, 1 person from BC’s Center for Corporate Citizenship.
Talk about duties—what will the Committee do?
1) make recommendations to the Board of Trustees Investment Sub-Committee, primarily recommendations on how to vote on shareholder resolutions: (use an example, maybe either the imaginary Exxon-Mobile example from slide 8 or use the real example on Wal-Mart from slide 14—saying if we were invested in one of these companies the shareholder resolution would be sent to the Committee instead of to the money managers as it is now. The Committee would discuss and vote on each resolution and the recommendation would go to the Board of Trustees for either approval or veto)
2)The Committee will also be able to eventually help BC introduce its OWN shareholder resolutions
3)The Committee will also function as a structure for discussion and dialogue throughout the University should another South-Africa-type crises emerge.
REMEMBER to mention that the Board has final say in EVERYTHING.
And lastly, talk about how we also need TRANSPARANCY in order for the Committee to be able to function. (we can’t vote on shareholder resolutions if we don’t know what we’re invested in)

24. In light of that, we are asking for:
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
In light of that, we are asking for:
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!
We hope to use our $1 Billion Endowment to Advocate for positive change

25. Get Involved What you can do to help…
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
Get Involved What you can do to help…
Very Important to get the help of the BC community!
Mention where the campaign is now, how close we are:
After meeting with the administration (VP Appleyard and Assistant Treasurer John Zona) our proposal was sent to President Leahy and VP of Finance Peter McKenzie. We need to show them that there is widespread support for SRI, that is where we need your help.

26. Learn More Pick up the full proposal on your way out.
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
Learn More
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.
Pick up a copy of the Proposal or get it on-line
Get the word out about SRI and the campaign to bring it to BC

27. Spread the Word Talk about SRI with your friends and family.
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
Spread the Word
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 or can be obtained from any member of GJP.
GO TO THE WEBSITE!!!
There is lots of info there, our proposal, this presentation, and our research paper on about a dozen other schools that have Advisory Committees like the one we are proposing. There is also other materials pertaining to SRI in the University setting

28. Commit to the Initiative:
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
Commit to the Initiative:
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.
Please sign on to the initiative to show President Leahy and VP McKenzie that the BC community wants SRI at its University!
Keep an eye out for elections

29. Thank you for your time, energy, and dedication!
The Advisory Committee on SRI An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
Thank you for your time, energy, and dedication!
Now Ask if People Have any Questions:
Important: No matter how many times you say it, someone always asks how divesting and buying and selling stocks might affect BC’s endowment. Make it clear that our proposal and the Committee does NOT have the power to buy and sell stocks. The Committee is there primarily to VOTE ON SHAREHOLDER RESOLUTIONS b/c by keeping our shares instead of selling them we can have a voice in how the corporation is run.
Board of Trustees has final decision-making powers…ALWAYS..
Good Luck!