Student groups call for more transparency in endowment
By: Maya Pisel
Issue date: 11/20/09 Section: News
Hamre said that after the issue with South Africa was resolved, the SRC was "dormant" until 2000, when student questions about sweatshops prompted the committee to begin meeting regularly again. Three years ago, in response to outcry over the genocide in Darfur, it recommended to the president that Macalester divest from companies with holdings in Sudan.
"Last year we spent a great deal of the year developing procedures which would make our holdings in our endowment more transparent," Hamre said.
Hamre said the SRC decided to create a Web site that lists all the companies and indexes in which Macalester invests its endowment. "Then students could go and scroll through the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of companies and see if any of the places where we have some of our investments have [investments of concern],"
"Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds" is not an exaggeration, said David Wheaton, the vice president of administration and finance.
"Either directly or indirectly, we own almost every big company in the country," Wheaton said.
Macalester hires about 40 managers who each get a piece of the endowment to invest. "Each of those managers," Wheaton said, "have different expertise and operate quite broadly."
Macalester also buys index funds. When the endowment is invested in an index fund, such as Standard & Poor's 500, it is invested a little bit in each of the 500 companies in the index.
Despite having holdings in a broad reach of corporations, "we don't own any significant portion of any company…[and] we have almost no proxy voting rights," Wheaton said.
This investment style makes it complicated to divest from a specific company or country, Wheaton said.
"In the investing style that we've chosen, we don't get any say in what's in and what's not," he said.
However, Wheaton emphasized that "it's not impossible" to divest of a company or companies. Macalester could change the way the endowment is managed, investing with particular managers and staying away from index funds.
"Last year we spent a great deal of the year developing procedures which would make our holdings in our endowment more transparent," Hamre said.
Hamre said the SRC decided to create a Web site that lists all the companies and indexes in which Macalester invests its endowment. "Then students could go and scroll through the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of companies and see if any of the places where we have some of our investments have [investments of concern],"
"Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds" is not an exaggeration, said David Wheaton, the vice president of administration and finance.
"Either directly or indirectly, we own almost every big company in the country," Wheaton said.
Macalester hires about 40 managers who each get a piece of the endowment to invest. "Each of those managers," Wheaton said, "have different expertise and operate quite broadly."
Macalester also buys index funds. When the endowment is invested in an index fund, such as Standard & Poor's 500, it is invested a little bit in each of the 500 companies in the index.
Despite having holdings in a broad reach of corporations, "we don't own any significant portion of any company…[and] we have almost no proxy voting rights," Wheaton said.
This investment style makes it complicated to divest from a specific company or country, Wheaton said.
"In the investing style that we've chosen, we don't get any say in what's in and what's not," he said.
However, Wheaton emphasized that "it's not impossible" to divest of a company or companies. Macalester could change the way the endowment is managed, investing with particular managers and staying away from index funds.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 3
Paul Maccabee
Paul Maccabee
posted 11/20/09 @ 11:19 AM CST
As a Mac alumnus involved in human rights causes, I'm saddened by the thinly-concealed hypocrisy of the Mac Students United For Palestinian Equal Rights (SUPER)'s call for a boycott of companies that support the Jewish state's efforts to defend themselves against Palestinian terror attacks. (Continued…)
ira
posted 11/21/09 @ 2:34 AM CST
Actually, let me amend my above comment:
As a Mac alumnus involved in human rights causes, I'm saddened by Paul's thinly-concealed hypocrisy. This is not simply about antagonisms against Judaism or Islam, as both religions produce adherents with significant flaws. (Continued…)
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