Bursar's SRI questions

Posted on 13/02/05 by Anon

The Bursar asked the JCR to consider whether and how the proposed ‘Ethical Investments Committee’ should and could address:

a) Exactly which equities/corporate bonds not to hold;

b) whether college land-holding should be used for, say, GM crops or fox-hunting, and whether tenant farmers should be told to use less fertiliser/pesticides or whether College should not seek to build housing on ‘green fields’;

c) whether College should aim to control the use of office space in its commercial property, discriminating between company/trading activity X or Y;

d) whether the bonds of particular governments should or should not be held;

e) where College cash should not be deposited;

f) whether the JCR policy was aimed more at ‘non-investment’ and ‘disinvestment’ rather than ‘active investment’ (ie College tries to influence company policy at shareholder meetings by querying specific aspects of company strategy), and, if at disinvestment or non-investemnt, the degree to which the lack of an alternative finally advantageous investment needed to provide diversification/income/capital growth should mean that the duty to maximise charity assets would at that point override ethical concerns;

g) how the JCR itself can reach an accurate consensus on what issues are within the remit of Ethical Investments Committee, and exactly how would the JCR determine what is its majority opinion;

h) whether Old Members are also ‘stakeholders’ in all this, alongside College employees as well; and

i) whether the remit of the Committee would include, say, the research interests/funding of Fellows or the receiving of legacies/donations from Old Members and others.