The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate passed a resolution on April 6 endorsing the Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility's (ACSR) quest for a greater role in overseeing the Board of Trustees' investment policies.
The resolution was submitted by advisory committee members Lorenzo Arroyo and Nicole Zeller, both juniors, and sophomore Gabe Frumkin. It calls on the Board to permit the ACSR to expand in size and scope by allowing for the inclusion of non-undergraduates on the committee and permitting members to disseminate information on the Board's activities to the greater university community.
Frumkin, the chairman, said the ACSR's three members wanted the Senate to pass the resolution to demonstrate that the student body supports the committee's goals.
"It would help show the Board of Trustees and the administration that this is not just a small group of students, but in fact that what we are trying to do with the ACSR is supported by the student government," Frumkin said. The resolution passed by a vote of 19 to three.
The resolution petitions the administration to remove a requirement forcing committee members to sign nondisclosure agreements.
Currently, the administration and the Board of Trustees require the three ACSR members to sign nondisclosure agreements, which prevent them from publicizing university investments to the greater Tufts community.
"At this time our policy continues to be that endowment investment decisions are the responsibility of the Trustee Investment Committee," Executive Vice President Patricia Campbell said in an e-mail.
"That committee has agreed to involve undergraduate students appointed by the TCU Senate in the proxy vote process," she added. This is the process by which the Board makes decisions on corporate policies, including investments.
The resolution also calls on the Board and the administration to permit the ACSR to include graduate students, faculty, staff and alumni. The committee originally hoped to include such members, and individuals from these demographics did participate in the committee during its early stages. But the Board clarified in February that the ACSR must include only three undergraduates.
Campbell said that she informed the Trustee Investment Subcommittee of the resolution's passage last week, but she said the administration has not adjusted its position.
The administration has called the ACSR a good "educational opportunity" for students, emphasizing the committee's role as an edifier for ACSR members rather than an opportunity for these three students to make the Board's investments more transparent to the rest of the university community.
TCU President Neil DiBiase said that the Senate endorsed the resolution to help the committee achieve
its goals.
"I think that the idea is really to let the committee function in the way that they described to us that it was created to function," said DiBiase, a junior.
DiBiase added that the Senate exists to help causes championed by the student body.
"I think that the Senate has an obligation to advocate for student needs and what students want," DiBiase said. "Our job is not to pass judgment on the needs of the student body."
Frumkin was pleasantly surprised by the Senate's support for the ACSR. "We had a much more favorable outcome in the votes than I anticipated," Frumkin said. "That just goes to show that there is even more support among the student body than I thought."
He said that the committee has not yet planned its next move, but that it will continue negotiations with the administration.
"We will continue to pursue greater transparency and greater democracy," Frumkin said.
