I just got my first real job. Almost seven years after graduating from our esteemed university, I can finally boast of full-time employment, a salary, benefits, the whole enchilada. My employment lag might not be a welcome data point for the brochure extolling the virtues of higher education, but I feel pretty darn lucky at the moment. Now I just have to decide what to do with all of this hard-earned money.
I know exactly what Tufts would like me to do with it. They would like me to send it to them in monthly installments, and some fortunate student employee on the phone line would get a bonus. This is a very tempting scenario. I loved my time at Tufts University. I met wonderful people, I learned a myriad of facts and life lessons, and, really, can there ever be enough brick to brighten one's day? Tufts relies on the support of alumni like me, and maybe supporting them is fair payback for the use of their name on my CV. (Just ignore the fact that it took this long to help me — I'm sure I'm an outlier).
I only have one niggling little question: What the hell is Tufts going to do with this money? Examining the historical record doesn't exactly inspire confidence. Despite attempts at research into the endowment, Tufts has done a very good job of covering their tracks. Only when a huge mistake is made, like having a toe in the Bernie Madoff fracas, does Tufts fess up. But what about the rest of it? How do I know where my money will go? What if it is used to support causes that I don't believe in, causes that violate my own moral code? What if by donating to Tufts, I am tacitly sponsoring a variety of unethical business practices that I don't agree with?
OK, I know the connection between my potential donation and the support of heartless scum who delight in making money off of misery seems a bit tenuous, but I think that when we give our money away (to Tufts, to investment bankers, to the government) that we should seriously consider where that money is going. For investment in sustainable, socially conscious, community-supporting business, I give it a big thumbs up. Investment in the rape of the natural world and screwing people over gets a thumbs down.
Even if I trusted that Tufts was only spreading sunshine and good cheer with its endowment dollars, I would hope that Tufts as an institution would jump at the chance to (transparently) brag about how ethical their investments are. And as the Students at Tufts for Investment Responsibility (STIR) members so helpfully point out, our proverbial Joneses (enviable neighbors such as Harvard, Swarthmore, Columbia, Williams and Barnard) are already doing this. Let's keep up with them on the things that really matter.
So while I do wish Tufts well, I am going to withhold any direct donations to their coffers until they cough up some transparency and make a commitment to investing money in ways that make the world a brighter place, and I'm going to encourage other alumni to do the same. However, since I do sincerely believe that one of the best things about Tufts is its students, I'm going to use my hard-earned paycheck to support the Tufts Progressive Alumni Network (TPAN) Social Justice Fund (full disclosure, I'm on the exec board and it rocks). That way I can still support the institution I love, but with the smug knowledge that my money will go to Tufts students working to make their school live up to its full potential.
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Danika Kleiber graduated from Tufts in 2002 with a degree in biology and women's studies. She is currently a senior research assistant for Project Seahorse in the University of British Columbia Fisheries Center and is the chair of the alumni relations committee for Tufts Progressive Alumni Network.
