To the Editor:
There were a number of errors in the yesterday's article, "SA to Monitor Investments," regarding the newly created Committee on Investor Responsibility. The title itself was misleading. Student Assembly has not been pursuing the formation of this committee and will no part in its future activities.
Instead, an advisory committee made up of students, faculty and administrators submitted a proposal to President Wright last year asking for the formation of this college committee.
Wright expressed his approval, and the committee will begin meeting within the next few weeks. Student Assembly has now become involved solely for the purpose of selecting students to serve on this important committee, and the Membership and Internal Affairs Committee will convene next Tuesday to read applications and recommend names of students to serve along side the faculty and administrators who are members of the Investor Responsibility Committee.
The Membership and Internal Affairs committee, which I chair, is responsible for appointing students to all college committee on campus. It recommends student representatives to the Undergraduate Finance Committee, the Committee on Instruction, the Committee on Alcohol and Other Drugs, and the Committee on Off-Campus Activities, among others. Therefore, it is logical that SA will be involved in the selection process for the Investor Responsibility committee.
The committees' charge will be to use the College's equity to follow through with Dartmouth's values. The committee will not be "monitoring" the College's investments, and it has no ability or desire to alter the College's investment portfolio. They will not be going through a cumbersome process, as was indicated in yesterday's article, to evaluate each company individually. Instead, the committee will consider proposals encouraging the College to use its power as a proxy voter to support social policies within the corporate context.
The committee will also be concerned with making the College's endowment investments more transparent for the purpose of utilizing Dartmouth College's influence in proxy voting. Charles White '02, who served on the original advisory committee to create this new opportunity, hopes the College will produce a quarterly list of investments available to anyone in the Dartmouth community.
Student Assembly has already received numerous applications for this committee. We are looking for students aware of the social issues which pertain to the Dartmouth community and who are in touch with corporate issues as they relate to society at large.
The deadline for applications is Monday, February 10th and any interested student who plans to be on during Spring term is welcome to submit an application at http://sa.dartmouth.edu.
