We want a transparent, sustainable Tufts endowment

The vision statement of Tufts University states that:

"as we shape our future, quality will be the pole star that guides us. We will seek quality in our teaching and research and in the services that support our academic enterprise. Our programs will be those that meet our own high standards, that augment each other, and that are worthy of the respect of our students and of scholars, educators, and the larger community."

The commitment of Tufts to quality is not limited to the depth and breadth of its academic opportunities; rather, this commitment extends to the actions of Tufts University as a whole.

We believe that the actions of the administration have failed in extending this commitment to the management of our endowment. Currently, the university does not disclose its investments, and thus their social, political, or environmental consequences, to alumni, students, faculty, or the larger community. We believe all members of the Tufts community have the right to know how their money is being invested, either directly or through a representative body accountable to our community. We believe that Tufts, as a major institutional investor with serious financial clout, has a duty to invest our endowment not only for a profit, but also in ways that further demonstrate Tufts's mission. To this end, we advocate for an open, institutionalized dialogue between the administration and the community, in the spirit of active global citizenship.

In the spring of 2007, the administration agreed to the formation of a group of appointed representatives from the Tufts's community to have a say in the investment practices of the university. This committee, the Advisory Committee for Shareholder Responsibility (ACSR), was designed specifically for this purpose of institutionalized dialogue and was intended to consist of undergraduates, graduate students, staff, and faculty members. The ACSR has now been reduced to a group of just three undergraduates. The Board of Trustees and the administration, led by Peter Dolan and Executive Vice President Patricia Campbell respectively, have failed to take any of the committee's hard work or input into serious consideration.

In April 2008, the TCU Senate overwhelmingly supported a resolution which called for the ACSR to have more power in influencing the investment policies of the university, and for an end to the nondisclosure agreements that the ACSR has been forced to sign. Nearly a year later, the committee remains disenfranchised, the administration has refused to commit to disclosure, and community input is not being considered.

We as a community cannot stand for our Senate's resolution to continue to go unaddressed, our committee's input to go ignored, and our community's concerns to be disregarded.

We, the undersigned, believe that the first step towards responsible investing is to reinstate the Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (ACSR) to its original full compliment of representatives from the community, including undergraduates, graduate students, faculty and alumni. Furthermore we demand that the Administration and Finance Committee take the ACSR seriously in its efforts to ensure a more responsible, more democratic, more sustainable endowment.

Other schools like Harvard, Yale, Brown, Smith, Stanford, Swarthmore, Columbia, Williams and Vassar have all successfully instituted similar reforms at their institutions. Our university's vision statement puts forth that "we will therefore welcome change and innovation, continually improving quality in every aspect of the University." It is now Tufts's turn to join this group of forward thinking and responsible institutions by taking our concerns seriously and considering these reforms.

In the past, pressure from supporters of the ACSR has resulted in what we see as purposeful delay by the administration. Therefore, we ask that the administration grant the ACSR its full membership and powers on or before Monday, March 2, 2009.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned.