Group says Yale invests irresponsibly
Organizers of the Responsible Endowment Project on Monday accused Yale of placing endowment dollars in ethically questionable investments and called on the University to curtail the practice.
At a panel discussion that drew an audience of about 150, REP leaders argued that some of Yale’s investments support environmentally unsustainable practices and worker mistreatment. To humanize the issue, speakers at the event included California hotel worker Jose Landino — who says he and his coworkers have been exploited by the Yale-supported company HEI Hotels and Resorts — along with...
The enviro-religious nitwits are at it again. If they really want to improve the environment around New Haven, they would stay in Durham, New Hampshire.
Socially responsible investing is VERY arbitrary. Why not allow Yale to make money and then encourage Yale to use that money for good in the New Haven community? I understand that perhaps this one company has some aggressive business practices -- but if you looked into almost any of the highest-performing companies in America you could find a reason that you shouldn't invest in them.
you are so far from the truth anonymous, you should really do some research. Yale investing currently works on a model developed in the 1970s, but industry has moved quite a bit since then. Ethical/Responsible/Sustainable/Green investing are all quite popular right now and there are numerous possible codes that could be chosen. Plus there is a glaringly obvious code that could be followed, YALES OWN STANDARDS. If yale has stated environmental and labor standards (which even though it may not always follow them, it does, see the office of sustainability and the most recent union contract), why shouldnt it apply those to its investments. It doesnt really make sense for a university to provide social good off of social ill and although defining what qualifies as an "ill" may not be EASY its CERTAINLY not impossible. I dont see why the discussion this group is trying to inspire university wide isn't perfectly appropriate.
Just because every high-performing company in America does it doesn't mean that it's right. Yale students are smart enough to recognize that, and the Yale Investment Office should be able to, too.
If someone from the UOC can explain how Yale can maintain its return through their so-called "ethical" investments I would love to hear it. But, until they can come up with a legitimate and workable alternative to Yale's current practices I suggest they start thinking about what Yale initiatives they suggest should be downsized to accommodate their ethics. It bothers me that one year those who sit in complain about a lack of financial aid and the next year they complains about where the money for the financial aid comes from. You can't have both. If the UOC wants to come up with either an equally successful investment plan or a list of expenditures they would be willing to cut I don't want to hear it. Instead of just criticizing the University they should be trying to come up with substantive alternatives. These publicity stunts don't help anyone except those who do the sitting in to assuage their own guilt about accepting Yale's "slightly overworked non-unionized hotel worker money". It is just not a constructive thing to do.
Until I read this I hadn't realized what a Facist institution I was attending. No way can I continue study at a university supported by the exploitation of my fellow human beings. Their sweat and their blood stains all of our hands. I see now that every class I attend only condones the immoral actions of the evil cabal that runs this place. People - while some may tell you to stay and try to change the future when you graduate, the means to that end ultimately corrupts us all. Any person of conscience has no choice but to leave Yale. For where, I'm not sure, but I'm out of here before I am sucked into the abyss. Who's with me? Anyone? Anyone?? Anyone???
Then, um, leave. The rest of us, with our own blue-collar labor class parents, are too busy with silly pragmatic things like... keeping a job and getting the education they couldn't afford at my age. But please feel free to pay your premiums for organic free trade soy mush and start a commune by yourself - why wait for others' approval?
Great big wonderful Yale--squeezing bucks out of American labor at the lowest socioeconomic levels in order to support the highest, tax free. And bragging about it (the "return") too. Why can't ethical investing be smart investing? What is the point of creating a green campus that drives the chopping down of New England forests?