Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 72.94
Liaison John Alejandro
Submission Date Oct. 13, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of San Diego
PA-8: Committee on Investor Responsibility

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Steven Heath
Treasury and Financial Systems Manager
Finance
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have a formally established and active committee on investor responsibility (CIR) that makes recommendations to fund decision-makers on socially and environmentally responsible investment opportunities across asset classes?:
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:

The committee responsible for this is the entire Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees.

Language below is directly from the investment guidelines that the committee abides by:

"Social Responsibility -
It is important to recognize that the University has a moral and fiduciary responsibility to pursue a reasonable rate of return, with appropriate diversification and risk, on its portfolio, in order to support its mission and goals. Within this context, the Committee will consider factors other than investment return in its investment choices in order to reflect the University’s social and ethical principles, and will take proactive steps to invest in ways that are consistent with these principles wherever reasonably possible. In its consideration of its social responsibility in investing, the Committee will evaluate:
1) the exclusion from the portfolio securities of firms whose policies are contrary to the values the University adopts;
2) the investment in firms that demonstrate a high level of social concern; and
3) the influencing of the social behavior of invested firms through the exercise of ownership rights.

The University’s mutual funds, commingled accounts or limited partnerships are only managed according to their prospectus and limited partnership agreements, so customization of guidelines is generally not possible for these investments. The Committee will not knowingly invest commingled funds with any manager whose stated strategy is inconsistent with our principles."


Does the CIR include staff representation?:
Yes

Does the CIR include faculty representation?:
Yes

Does the CIR include student representation?:
Yes

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

Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees:

President James T. Harris (President)
Luis Maizel (Board Member)
Royal Carson (Board Member)
Rob Dean (Board Member)
Ron Fowler (Board Member)
Kevin Green (Board Member)
Dan Herbert (Alumni)
Stanley Legro (Board Member)
Byron Roth (Board Member)
Mark Bosco (Board Member)
David Hale (Board Member)
Don Knauss (Board Member)
Mark King (Board Member)
Jamey Power (Board Member)
Matt Reno (Board Member)
Steve Sumner, PhD (faculty representative)
Tabitha Plummer (undergraduate student representative)
Geralyn Williams (graduate student representative)

http://www.sandiego.edu/documents/2016-17-Membership-on-Board-of-Trustees-Committees.pdf


Examples of CIR actions during the previous three years:

Screening applied using Bloomberg data for new investments with Stonebridge Advisors and Neumeier Poma Small Cap Strategies which meets the University’s approach to Socially Responsible investing. MCSI Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) screening service was also set up with Vulcan Value Capital Partners.


The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Seeking the credit based on the premise that the investment committee operates according to the investment policy statement and the following passage from the criteria for this credit from the STARS Technical Manual:
"A general committee that oversees the institution's investments does not count for this
credit unless social and environmental responsibility is an explicit part of its mission
and/or agenda."


Seeking the credit based on the premise that the investment committee operates according to the investment policy statement and the following passage from the criteria for this credit from the STARS Technical Manual:
"A general committee that oversees the institution's investments does not count for this
credit unless social and environmental responsibility is an explicit part of its mission
and/or agenda."

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.