Amherst, April 2nd, 2008
Dear_____________:
Before spring break members of the Green Amherst Project and Amnesty International met with President Marx to discuss ways of making Amherst’s endowment investments more environmentally and ethically sound. President Marx agreed that he would research other endowment policies and meet with us again the first week of May. He also charged our organizations with increasing student driven activism to prove student interest in this proposal. We responded by forming the Responsible Endowment Coalition to raise student awareness about the environment and endowment responsibility.
The Endowment Sustainability Institute awarded Amherst College a “D” in endowment transparency and shareholder engagement. ____comparable colleges received “As”and Williams received a “B.” Potential models of endowment responsibility include making the endowment entirely transparent or having a forming a committee of Trustees, students, faculty, and staff to help make investment decisions.
Our coalition aims to inform the Amherst community about why endowment responsibility is necessary to make students more socially responsible, uphold the College mission, and positively impact the world, at no expense to the College. Through informative displays, going door-to-door, petitioning, and organizing a “day of silence” and a rally, we hope to mobilize the campus community into demanding Amherst to making more responsible investments.
So far, we’ve reached out exclusively to students, and currently 12 student groups support our initiative. Because endowment responsibility impacts the entire College community, we hope to gain the support of not only students, but also faculty, staff, and alumni.
As a member of the (faculty/staff), we see your support as integral to demonstrating community interest. We’re asking only that you sign our petition, but if you have more questions or want to get more involved, please contact Romain Cames (rcames09@amhrest.edu).
Sincerely,
The Responsible Endowment Coalition.
Current coalition members: Face AIDS, Global Rights Of Women, Youth Action International, the Amherst College Democrats, the Korean Students Association, the Students for Corporate Responsibility, the Black Students Alliance, La Causa, MASSPirg, Amnesty International, Hillel, the Asian Students’ Association, the Amherst Feminist Alliance, the Green Amherst Project and the South Asian Students’ Association.