Brandeis is a university founded on the ideals of social responsibility and responsible public citizenship. We want to bring Brandeis to the forefront of private universities on endowment-related policy.
Our goals:
1. To make openly available Brandeis' investment holdings in publicly traded businesses.
2. To establish an Advisory Committee to the Board of Trustees on Shareholder Involvement, with substantial student representation. This committee would make recommendations to the Board on shareholder resolutions relating to social, environmental, and political issues.
Similar committees and reforms exist at many of Brandeis' peer institutions, including Harvard, Brown, Yale, Columbia, Stanford, Smith, Barnard, Vassar, Williams, and Swarthmore (based on information provided here).
To quote Justice Louis Brandeis,
"There is no such thing to my mind as an innocent stockholder. He may be innocent in fact, but socially he cannot be held innocent. He accepts the benefits of the system. It is his business and his obligation to see that those who represent him carry out a policy which is consistent with public welfare."
To learn more about why we need these reforms, click here.