Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 75.35
Liaison Megan Litke
Submission Date March 30, 2016
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

American University
PA-13: Committee on Investor Responsibility

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Megan Litke
Sustainability Manager
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have a formally established and active committee on investor responsibility (CIR) or similar body that has multi-stakeholder representation (i.e. includes faculty, staff, and students) and otherwise meets the criteria for this credit?:
Yes

The charter or mission statement of the CIR or other body which reflects social and environmental concerns or a brief description of how the CIR is tasked to address social and environmental concerns:

From AU Board of Trustees report on Nov. 18, 2013:
"Among the topics discussed at both the full board meeting and at the town hall was that of socially responsible investing, which is an important issue being debated on campuses nationwide. To follow up the previous request by the board, an advisory committee on socially responsible investing is being created through the Office of the CFO, Vice President and Treasurer to advise the university regarding ethical, social, and environmental issues that might influence the management of AU’s endowment. The committee will be advisory in nature, and will have nine voting members, including four students, three faculty, one staff, and one alumni member. Appointments will be made and the first meeting convened before the end of the semester."


Members of the CIR, including affiliations and role (e.g. student, faculty, alumni):

The committee "will have nine voting members, including four students, three faculty, one staff, and one alumni member."


Examples of CIR actions during the previous three years:

In May 2013, the board established the Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing (ACSRI) to provide guidance and input by AU community members to the board’s Finance and Investment Committee on the climate change issue. ACSRI’s charge was to explore options the board might consider through the management of its endowment and to address a series of critical questions the board identified (see american.edu/trustees/upload/051713.pdf.)

For the May 2014 board meeting, ACSRI presented an interim report and recommended that the board consider three options for new, meaningful actions, including:

Partial Divestment—from AU’s endowment (focused on the Carbon 200 fossil fuel companies).
Investment—in alternative energy funds.
Engagement—with energy companies through shareholder actions.
The Finance and Investment Committee met several times to review the report and these recommendations. It received guidance from AU’s General Counsel and from our Cambridge investment advisors, and it made a recommendation to the full board.


The website URL where information about the CIR is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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