Amnesty International, a Nobel Peace Prize winning and internationally renowned human rights organization, has published a new report on the endowments of leading Universities in the United States. The report analyzes, through publicly available data and direct engagement with investment offices, 10 of largest University endowments in the United States, which collectively hold $426 billion in assets: Duke, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, the University of California system, the University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Texas and Texas A&M system, and Yale . The University of Chicago was the only institution to receive a 0/40, an indication that University doesn’t “care to make sure their billions in investments are upholding human rights” and fails to follow Environmental, Social, and Governance standards which aim to protect the planet. Seven other institutions received failing grades (although none as low as UChicago), and three received a grade of C or better.
UChicago’s particularly low score comes as a result of a failure to engage in standard transparency and engagement practices. Most other nonprofits and Universities sign to basic international standards like the United Nations Principles on Responsible Investment, have a Committee on Investment Responsibility, and release basic investment holding data to the public. Because of this lack of transparency and due diligence, Amnesty International highlighted the high likelihood that the University, knowingly or not, invests in VC firms implicated in the ongoing Uyghur genocide in China and companies that threaten basic privacy and labor rights. This lack of transparency extends to the University’s role as a shareholder with a lack of a public proxy voting policy and no record of votes in important shareholder decisions around human rights.
This report comes on the heels of years of calls to action, coupled with new revelations regarding the University’s unethical practices. Recent reports from Eyes on the Ties revealed large conflicts of interests among many members of the Board of Trustees because of work in the fossil fuel industry and personal direct financial holdings, which potentially place them in violation of standing conflict of interest policy. This follows reporting about the University’s direct holdings in fossil fuel companies, with the Maroon identifying, at minimum, tens of millions of funds tied to fossil fuels. These issues have long been a source of concern and campaigns among students with the newly legally recognized Graduate Student Union, who highlighted budget transparency and community voice in their initial platform.
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Sources:
- https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/leading-us-university-endowments-fail-to-ensure-their-billions-arent-funding-human-rights-abuses/
- https://news.littlesis.org/2023/03/16/tax-records-reveal-university-of-chicago-is-massively-invested-in-fossil-fuels/
- https://chicagomaroon.com/27823/news/uchicago-investments-tied-fossil-fuels-deforestati/
- https://gradstudentsunited.files.wordpress.com/2022/09/gsu-platform-planks-8_25-gmm.pdf