<r the past two weeks, the Carleton Responsible Investment Committee (CRIC) conducted a survey to gauge what ethical issues pertinent to shareholder resolutions are most important to the Carleton community. The survey will be published in the committee’s Year End Report which will be accessible from the CRIC website. The survey results will help guide CRIC in advising the Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees via the Vice President and Treasurer regarding ethical, social, and environmental issues that arise in the management of the college endowment. The survey questions were based on resolutions previously examined by the committee. The first six questions were ranked on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being “strongly agree” and 1 being “strongly disagree.” The final question asked respondents to rank five of the issues in order of importance. The survey received 209 student, 96 staff, and 16 faculty responses. Below is a condensed summary of the results.
1. Would you support a resolution which encourages companies directly involved in foreign military conflicts to review their conduct?
Avg. 7.82
2. Foreign Military Engagement: Would you support a resolution which encourages companies directly involved in foreign military conflicts to review their conduct?
Avg. 8.97
3. Human Rights: Would you support a resolution which encourages a company’s policies to more closely respect workers and local communities in line with U.N standards of Human Rights?
Avg. 8.85
4. Sustainability and Environment: Would you support a resolution which encourages a company to enact policies that create greater transparency and full disclosure of their activities which may affect the environment?
Avg. 8.12
5. Would you support a resolution which encourages urging companies to adopt more comprehensive health care policies?
Avg. 8.34
6. Executive Compensation: Would you support a resolution which encourages companies to enact policies that create greater transparency and accountability with regard to executive compensation?
Avg. 8.27
7. How would you rank the issues described above in order of importance to you?
The average rating from most important to least important was:
-Human Rights
-Sustainability and the Environment
-Health Care
-Divestment from Sudan
-Executive Compensation
The results of this survey demonstrate fairly clear preferences on the part of the Carleton community and will help guide the committee in future shareholder resolution decisions. For complete results see the CRIC website go.carleton.edu/cric.