| Overall Rating | Silver - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 61.53 |
| Liaison | Rachael Wein |
| Submission Date | March 2, 2020 |
Smith College
PA-9: Committee on Investor Responsibility
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 2.00 |
Rachael
Wein Assistant Director of Sustainability CEEDS |
Does the institution have a formally established and active committee on investor responsibility (CIR) or equivalent body?:
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:
The Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility, a subcommittee of the Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees, advises the Investment Committee (and, through them, the Board of Trustees) on matters of social responsibility and the Smith College endowment. Its role is to consult with the Investment Committee on social issues relevant to investing and thereby ensure the endowment continues to be invested in a manner consistent with—and supportive of—the college's mission and values. The committee's charge is to:
-Research, evaluate, and make recommendations regarding current issues and trends related to socially responsible investing
-Consult, as appropriate, with individuals and groups among the faculty, students and alumnae so that it can take into account the various points of view within the Smith community regarding investor responsibility
-Review, evaluate, and make recommendations regarding Investure's proxy voting principles and practices related to corporate governance and investor responsibility
Does the CIR include academic staff representation?:
Does the CIR include non-academic staff representation?:
Does the CIR include student representation?:
Members of the CIR, including affiliations and role:
Deborah DeCotis ’74, Smith College Board of Trustees, Chair
Alice Bell ’21
David DeSwert, Vice President for Finance and Administration
Brent Durbin, Associate Professor of Government
Julianne Hillsamer ’20
Marcia MacHarg ’70, Smith College Board of Trustees
Matthew Motyka, Controller
Roisin O’Sullivan, Professor of Economics
Alison Overseth ’80, Smith College Board of Trustees
Samuel Masinter, Interim Vice President for Public Affairs, Communications Liaison
Elena Palladino, Secretary of the Board of Trustees and Secretary of the College, Staff to the Committee
Deborah Farrington '72, Smith College Board of Trustees
Deborah Duncan '77, Chair of the Board of Trustees
Examples of CIR actions during the previous three years:
The committee began by researching higher education trends in socially responsible investing by compiling peer data, including definitions of social harm and the criteria against which other institutions weigh divestment. The ACIR is currently in the process of analyzing the data and identifying trends and ideas worthy of Smith’s consideration.
While researching trends, the committee began developing the principles that will guide socially responsible investing at Smith, now and in the future. The principles will balance Smith’s values and core mission with its fiduciary requirements. This work will be the major focus of upcoming meetings scheduled for 2017. A key component of the committee’s work to date has been identifying options for fossil fuel investment reductions within the current outsourced investment management context.
An independent advisor was hired to help the ACIR develop, then conduct, an analysis. The committee discussed a number of options for the analysis, which included a variety of means and breadth of divestment options and the potential impacts of each on the endowment.
In Fall 2019, the Investment Committee directed our outsourced investment office to exclude Smith from all future investments in fossil fuel specific managers. In addition, Smith has initiated a phaseout of all current investments with fossil-fuel specific managers.
Website URL where information about the institution’s committee on investor responsibility is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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