Voting Their Consciences

FOR THE PAST THREE YEARS DARTMOUTH has benefited from a committee that helps it balance the bottom line with social responsibility. Formed in 2002, the Dartmouth College Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility (ACIR) helps the Colleges investment team pay attention to social issues while fulfilling the ultimate fiduciary responsibility of earning the best possible returns. The committee is chaired by Ronald M. Green, director of Dartmouth's Ethics Institute and chairman of the religion department, and includes student, faculty, administration and alumni representatives. The group does not decide which companies the College should or should not invest in; that would get in the way of the trustees' charge to the endowment managers to maximize returns and balance risk. Nor does it influence anything having to do with privately held firms. Rather, ACIR's principle mission is to recommend how Dartmouth should vote on specific proxy resolutions.

The ACIR also makes recommendations about disclosing information regarding the Colleges investment portfolio, educates members of the Dartmouth community about the goals and constraints of the portfolio, and at times gives guidance to the Colleges investment advisors about investments that may be inconsistent with Dartmouth's mission.

An example of the ACIR's work involves Calpine, a geothermal energy company that supports green initiatives. The company's proxy vote asked shareholders for guidance about whether to continue development at a sacred Native-American site. In this case the ACIR voted unanimously to advise the company to cease the operations at the same time that the College maintained the investment in the company

Among those with praise for the ACIR is former associate vice president for investments Jon King, now at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who says that his dealings with the committee were a "very positive experience. We came away feeling a common purpose." ACIR member Sally Newman '05 is even more effusive: "It's a student activist's dream to be at a school that is willing to take responsibility for its economic decisions and that allows us to take part in the process," she says. "It's my favorite part of being a student at Dartmouth."