HT05 Update 1: The Campaign Starts!

Every Friday since 2nd week, an SRI campaign group has been meeting in Lecture Room 4 at 1pm. This will continue throughout term - so if you're interested, come along!

Oliver Morrison writes:

An initial effort was made three years ago to pursue socially responsible investing, but it was led by only one student and not followed up on. Two weeks ago Sam and I re-contacted the Bursar and informed him of the project's revival and asking for access to information on the endowment. The Bursar declined and re-sent the list of questions he gave to students then. I have attached both his questions and our response as word documents. [They're in the resource section].

We've developed an action plan to:
1) To obtain information about how our endowment is invested;
2) Seek the input of students, fellows, staff and alumni about what sort of ethical criteria should be a part of our investments;
3) Look for information on viable 'socially responsible' investment options;
4) Provide evidence for the legality of investing responsibly;
5) Pursue motions through the JCR and the college's governing council based on what we learn from the above four.
6) Establish permanent student input on the Endowment Committee's activities.

Each of these areas, especially 2-4 right now, would benefit enormously from your help. Moreover, as Sam mentioned, we will be gone next year and we need a couple of you who will still be here next year to step up and carry on what we get going this year.

I worked on a successful 'socially responsible investment' effort at my previous college and found it extremely rewarding. Not only were there the tangible effects of positively shaping a multi-million dollar endowment, but I learned a lot about investing and the politics of pursuing progressive political/organizational change. If you're at all interested in having an impact at Oxford, and learning to how to have an impact after you leave, I strongly recommend getting involved. SRI is an issue that has just come of age in the last decade and students at the major universities in the US (e.g. Harvard, Yale, Stanford) have already been successful. The time is ripe for something to happen at Oxford and it is long overdue.

Posted on 13/02/05 by tom