The New School
PA-8: Committee on Investor Responsibility

The mission of the Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility (ACIR) is to develop strategies for incorporating consideration of social, environmental, and corporate governance (collectively "SEG") issues into the management of The New School's investments. Issues under consideration include but are not limited to: human rights, labor standards, environmental sustainability, equity, diversity, discrimination, and corporate governance and disclosure. Authorized by the university Board of Trustee's policy and procedures on Investment Responsibility, the ACIR presents recommendations on SEG issues that arise in the management of the university's endowment to the Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees.

Voting members: Charles Allison (Chair/Faculty) Susan Sawyer (Staff) Ian Morlan (Staff) Bob Hoerle (Trustee) Bevis Longstreth (Trustee) Nicole Calcal (Upcoming student rep) Caspar Cello (Upcoming student rep) Lindsay O’Neill-Caffrey (previous student rep/in transition) Non Voting Members: Larry Woods (Office of Business and Finance) Baki Güney Işıkara (Research Assistant) Marjan Fadavi Ardekani (Research Assistant) Tokumbo Shobowale (Chief Operating Officer) Linda Hirst (Office of Business and Finance)

Divestment: In 2015, the ACIR helped accomplish a historic feat: backing The New School as it became one of the largest universities to divest its endowment of fossil fuels. It was announced that a multi pronged approach would be adopted, as the university’s environmental responsibility would be considered in a holistic manner. The university would therefore not just remove all its investment dollars from directly held fossil fuel assets but also address issues related to university facilities, curriculum, food services, and other areas. These plans received coverage nationwide and expanded the scope of the ACIR’s impact to date. NS EMIT (The New School Emissions Measurement Investment Tool): With the objective of having a deeper impact on the future of environmental finance,he ACIR has supported the creation of an investment evaluation tool, which will determine the environmental impact, both positive and negative, of investments across an entire endowment portfolio. It is named “NS EMIT”, the New School Emissions Measurement Investment Tool. It is our objective that universities and foundations will use NS EMIT to track and compare the environmental impact of their endowment or corpus investments. It is designed to be an interactive tool that is used throughout the year to help inform investment decisions. Divestment Event Held in Conjunction with Earth Day 2016: The ACIR facilitated a discussion with experts of various perspectives on how to increase the impact of The New School’s commitment to divest from fossil fuels and on approaches for handling carbon emissions in university endowments. The expert panel and its sponsoring organizations included: Paul-Alexander Crystal, Director of Treasury at the Natural Resources Defense Council , Chris Fowle, Vice President of Investor Initiatives at CDP, Marcie Smith, Executive Director at Responsible Endowments Coalition ,Tokumbo Shobowale, Chief Operating Officer of The New School The event provided a unique chance for students and staff to ask questions and discuss issues of the debate most relevant to them. The event is available online at youtube.com/watch?v=U-CdDmcmKsA. Proxy votes: Since 2013 ACIR has been conducting proxy voting annually on a wide variety of sustainability related shareholder resolutions. These votes reflects the new school commitment to ESG issues and sustainability concerns. These proxy voting reports are available at ACIR website.