| Overall Rating | Gold - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 77.55 |
| Liaison | Jack Byrne |
| Submission Date | June 9, 2017 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
Middlebury College
PA-13: Committee on Investor Responsibility
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 2.00 |
Jack
Byrne Director of Sustainability Integration Environmental Affair |
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?:
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 the charter of the Middlebury Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing:
GOALS
To promote the socially responsible investment of Middlebury's endowment through the following methods: Listed in order of importance.
1 Fulfilling shareholder rights and responsibilities for 100% of our endowment by
-Using our proxy voting status
-Submitting shareholder resolutions
-Engaging in corporate dialogue
2 Positive investments of a small percentage of Middlebury’s direct holdings in
-Local, national and international, community development initiatives
-Environmental protection and alternative energy suppliers
-Businesses owned by women or minorities
3 Screening and divestment from
-Selected companies that severely violate Middlebury’s ethical principles
-Companies selected as part of national divestment campaigns
GENERAL CHARGE
The ACSRI will be charged with the following responsibilities:
1 Solicit and consider proposals from members of the Middlebury College community
concerning responsible investment ideas. The ACSRI must consider the economic, social and environmental ramifications of a stated proposal before recommending its implementation.
o The proposals will be used to develop a small number of investment ideas that address one or two social, environmental, or economic issues.
2 Monitor trends in Socially Responsible Investment across the country. This activity
includes, but is not limited to, a careful review of the investment decisions of other educational institutions. The committee should insure that Middlebury’s principles and ideals are a guiding force when making these considerations.
3 Research Middlebury College’s direct holdings and other investments.
4Prepare a report to pass on to newly elected committee members at the end of each
academic the year. This report will include the research and minutes from each meeting.
5 Issue recommendations on shareholder activism including voting on and submitting
select shareholder resolutions.
Members of the CIR, including affiliations and role (e.g. student, faculty, alumni):
STRUCTURE
The Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investment will be structured as follows:
1 There shall be five student representatives. The voting members of the ACSRI will solicit and choose the student representatives from an application pool. Each student’s term will be one year.
2 There shall be one representative from the College administration. He or she will serve a term of two years.
3 There shall be one faculty representative from the College. This representative will be elected for a term of two years at the first faculty meeting of the academic year.
4 There shall be one alumni representative on the ACSRI. The representative is to be
chosen by the President after consulting with the primary officers of the Middlebury
College Alumni Association. He or she will serve a term lasting two years.
5 All Committee meetings will be open to trustee attendance and input.
These eight members will each have one vote. The voting members will elect a chair for the committee each year. The private manager of the College’s endowment will act as an ex officio advisor to the ACSRI on relevant issues
Examples of CIR actions during the previous three years:
The ACSRI has helped to lead recent divestment efforts and is working with the college President and administration to address this issues. In January 2013 a panel addressed divestment from fossil fuels and the discussion continued throughout the Spring in a series of forums.
RISE, a new initiative from January 2014, demonstrates the positive effects of socially responsible investing and educates students about the sustainable investment process. Students are investing $150,000 into sustainable companies using environmental, social, and governance criteria. RISE is also aided by the use of the MSCI ESG data set which was purchased in January to aid our research.
The group surveyed the student body about their opinions of using ESG criteria in the endowment. The results may be used in a presentation to Board members.
The Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing has been working on the review of the Sustainable Investments Initiative (SII) using the MSCI dataset. The review has been waiting on transparency from the administration on the contents of the SII before it can be submitted or presented.
ACSRI has been pushing the administration to continue to work on the President's commitment from the end of August 2013 to implement a stronger set of ESG principles in the endowment.
The website URL where information about the CIR is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.