Students for Ending the War in Iraq (SEWI), wrote a Wespeak against the idea of justifying weapons distribution with moral war (“Wesleyan needs to get out of the carnage market of ’moral war,’” Feb. 22, vol. CXLIII, no. 31).
“Social harm, morally outrageous and irrational social harm, is so fundamental to the nature of weapons contractors, that owning their stocks is completely socially irresponsible,” Stavis said. Yes, we’ve heard all that before. Weapons are bad. Killing people is bad. Halliburton (which Wesleyan is invested in by the way) is bad…Of course, she does not mention that war and killing are sometimes necessary, especially when the ultimate goals are saving lives and gaining freedom. And building up defense is always necessary. But these arguments have been heard before, too. So I’ll talk more about social responsibility in general.
Who decides what is socially responsible? It seems clear that we should not fund terrorism, apartheid government, or the ACLU, but who gets to define socially responsible investing? Should we divest from U.S. Military weapons contractors during an unpopular, poorly handled war? Should we divest from companies that donate money to support legalizing gay marriage? Should we divest from companies that are outsourcing jobs to foreign countries? There will always be people in the Wesleyan community who are dissatisfied with Wesleyan’s portfolio for one reason or another. And there will always be misguided student groups attempting to decide for everyone else what constitutes socially responsible investing. So I went through the list of securities in which Wesleyan is invested (www.wesleyan.edu/treasurer/proxy/) and picked out some companies to briefly analyze myself. Due to time and space constraints, I chose only 10 companies. But I declare that Wesleyan University must divest from the following companies on grounds that investing in such companies is socially irresponsible!
ATP OIL & GAS CORP: Seriously? An oil and gas corporation? And one that hasn’t kept all of its jobs in the United States? These are the evil companies that are making life more difficult for working-class Americans!
CONTINENTAL: There are several companies with this name, but if it’s Continental Airlines that Wesleyan is invested in, Wesleyan should divest since homosexuality is socially, morally, and evolutionarily irresponsible! Continental supports Out Professionals and donates money to GLBT Organizations.
DEVON ENERGY CORP: On the outside, this corporation appears to be making an effort to be socially responsible, but this doesn’t change the fact that it’s an oil and gas production company at work in nations other than our own!
DIRECTV GROUP INC: DIRECTV offers channels, such as Playboy TV, filled with nothing but pornography. Pornography is socially irresponsible! Plus, DIRECTV uses satellites from Boeing, which is a defense contractor, so that might be wrong, too.
DOMINOS PIZZA INC: I’m an Italian American who grew up in New Haven County. Domino’s Pizza is an abomination. This is just insulting. How could Wesleyan be invested in such abhorrent so-called pizza? Do we really want people to eat bad pizza from a large corporation, rather than decent-to-good pizza from a small local business? Plus, the stuff is unhealthy and relatively inexpensive, so Domino’s contributes greatly to obesity, a serious health problem facing our nation!
DYNCORP INTERNATIONAL INC: DynCorp is a private military contractor, which might be bad, since weapons are bad. Additionally, personnel from this company have allegedly been violent on several occasions!
FREEPORT-MCMORAN COPPER & GOLD INC: This is yet another worldwide company that Wesleyan is invested in. And if money is the root of all evil, copper and gold are strands of the root of all evil!
HARLEY-DAVIDSON: This name is synonymous with violent, racist and sexist motorcycle gangs, drug addicts, and people who think they are badass. Plus, motorcycles are loud, bad for carpooling, and a major source of pollution!
LIBERTY MEDIA HOLDING CORP: Liberty Media recently bought the Atlanta Braves, a team with a politically incorrect and therefore offensive name, yet the team name remains the same!
TRANSOCEAN INC: This is another oil and gas company that does offshore drilling, etc. Divest immediately!
SEWI is right! It appears that Wesleyan is not socially responsible when it comes to investing, although it all depends on who defines social responsibility.
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