Last May, Students Against the War in Iraq (SEWI) submitted a proposal to the Board of Trustees calling for divestment from weapons contractors in the Iraq War. Although the board rejected this proposal, they voted to create an endowment committee to work with the board in choosing future investments.
However, some students still question the Board’s decision.
“A lot of people were really upset, and we felt like we didn’t get a full answer as to all the reasons behind their decisionm” said SEWI member Emily Caffery ’10.
The Board is made up of approximately thirty-two members, all either Wesleyan alums or parents. Nine of them are elected by the alumni association, while the rest are elected by a two-phase process involving the governance committee and the existing board members. According to Jim Dresser, chair of the Board of Trustees, no one member of the board could express by himself the consensus of the group.
“I cannot look into the head of each of the trustees and tell you how they weighted the pros and cons, the advantages and disadvantages of the resolution in coming to their votes,” he said. “I’m sure in the diverse group of intelligent individuals they probably all weighed them somewhat differently, although they did all come to the same conclusion.”
The issue of divestment was prominent in the University’s consciousness since last year, as the Board received the first draft of the divestment proposal in November 2007. However, they did not reach a final decision until last May.
“It would have been helpful to SEWI if there had been more time in the year that we could have pushed more strongly for an explanation and responded right then… instead of letting the energy dissipate over the summer,” said Caffery.
In justifying the delayed response, Dresser cited the many demands on the Board’s time.
“I thought we worked pretty much at the pace we could, given the school calendar and the schedules of the people on the task force, to move forward to [the decision],” he said.
SEWI’s divestment proposal was first presented to Dresser the day before the board’s November meetin—he board meets only in November, February and Ma—n President Roth’s office.
“Of course, therefore all I was able to do at that meeting was to tell the board I had received it, and to suggest to them that I would like to set up a task force of four trustees… who would be in a position to interact with SEWI and others in a way that, obviously, a 30-person board couldn’t.” Dresser said. “We got that put together but we weren’t able to meet with the students before winter break because, as you know, you get into exams pretty quickly after the November meeting, and then there’s winter break.”
The task force met for the first time after winter break and met again before spring break. The board’s February meeting passed before the board was prepared to vote on the resolution.
By the time the board met in May, the task force had worked for several months with SEWI, WSA and other interested students, and each board member had received 150 pages of material regarding the matter. The task force reported to the board of trustees, and there was a debate at the May board meeting with students and faculty present. The board then voted on the resolution.
“I’m sorry that by May a lot of the students weren’t on campu—lthough many were, I talked to them and they were present at the discussion and debate at the board meeting. It’s late in the [academic] year, but that’s when our annual board meeting is.” Dresser said. “I thought that the students and the task force cooperated and moved along fairly expeditiously.”
Although the proposal was rejected, some students were gratified that the Board of Trustees unanimously voted in favor of the creation of an endowment committee. Still in the planning phase, the Committee for Investor Responsibility will work to include students, trustees, faculty, administrators, staff, and alumni in making investment decisions.
“We are very excited about the potential of the Committee for Investor Responsibility and are working to get it started,” said Becky Weiss ’10 of the WSA. “Although it’s unfortunate that divestment didn’t happen, we are very happy to have this opportunity.”
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