The Advisory Committee on SRI
An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
A Proposal to Create an
Advisory Committee on
Socially Responsible Investing
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
•Committee Proposal
•Get Involved
The Advisory Committee on SRI
An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
Socially Responsible Investing
(SRI)
“Doing Good while doing Well”
The Advisory Committee on SRI
An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
Three Tenants of SRI
•Social Screening
•Shareholder Advocacy
•Alternative Investing
The Advisory Committee on SRI
An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
Social Screening
•Proactive:
Positive Screening
Avoidance Screening
•Re-active:
Divestment
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 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
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
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).
Generally only 10% of the votes are
needed for social and environmental
shareholder resolutions!
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
The Advisory Committee on SRI
An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
SRI & Boston College
What we know…
and what we don’t.
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.
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
 Why the unnecessary secrecy? 
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.
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 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?
The Advisory Committee on SRI
An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
SRI at Other Universities
Who & How?
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
*proposed
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
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.
The Advisory Committee on SRI
An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
SRI Advisory Committee @ BC
What we are asking for…
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”
From the BC Mission Statement
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.
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!
The Advisory Committee on SRI
An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
Get Involved
What you can do to help…
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.
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 www.bc.edu/gjp or can be obtained from any
member of GJP.
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.
The Advisory Committee on SRI
An Initiative of the Global Justice Project
Thank you for your time, energy, and
dedication!