Macalester Col-lege focuses on certain ideals, including personal responsibility and service to society. Unfortunately, it seems that these ideals are not being consistently applied to the management of the school’s substantial investments.

Our endowment is now worth more than $400 million, but no policies are actively implemented to ensure that the endowment is managed in a way that lives up to our ideals. It is possible that it is, but we do not know and have no way to evaluate the endowment’s management since the Macalester community does not have access to the names of the companies Macalester invests in. Could we be investing in Halliburton? Wal-Mart? Monsanto? Certainly.

Institutional accountability requires a commitment to openness and a willingness to allow all members of the community to evaluate the college’s decisions. To this end, we believe it is essential to the integrity of this institution that the college makes the investment process open and transparent.

Until this happens we will be unable to evaluate if the college’s endowment is being managed in a way that consistently complements this community’s values. For example, we have no way of knowing how the college handles its voting rights in the companies we own stock in. By voting the college’s proxies responsibly, Macalester could support a broad range of shareholder resolutions on issues ranging from affirmative action and labor policies to the environment. By not voting we are giving the managers of these companies tacit approval for their unethical business practices. Doing nothing means that we are supporting the status quo.

In addition to the impact socially responsible investing would have on the greater community, it would also benefit Macalester students. There is vast educational potential for student involvement with researching and selecting responsible businesses and proxy voting positions. This could be an opportunity for students to apply the ideals being taught in the classroom. Students could work with both faculty and staff to put their Macalester education to practical use for a greater good.

In applying community ideals to investment management, Macalester would not be breaking new ground. At colleges across the country, including Swarthmore, Stanford and even the University of Minnesota, there are committees for socially responsible investing. At Barnard, the committee uses a logical three-step program to invest. They actively vote in proxy resolutions, they partake in negotiations with management as shareholders and, as a last resort, they divest from companies. None of these schools face financial difficulties because of their socially responsible decisions.

There is a precedent for Macalester considering social responsibility issues when investing their funds. The college divested from companies doing business in apartheid South Africa and developed a broad set of guidelines for the consideration of social issues in the management of the endowment. The guidelines authorize the trustees to vote for shareholder resolutions they feel would minimize social harm, to talk directly with company management about issues of social harm and to divest from companies that cause grave social harm. There is no public evidence that action is being taken under these guidelines. We aren’t completely sure, however, because the information isn’t public.

In the coming weeks we will be circulating a petition stating that:

1) All of Macalester College’s investments should be made public, and

2) The values that Macalester College stands for should be considered in everything Macalester does, including the management of the endowment.

We hope you will join with us by signing this petition and letting the administration and Board of Trustees know how important it is that we reflect as a community and take responsibility for all of our collective actions—something that will be impossible as long as Macalester’s investments remain a secret.