A newly formed student group is attempting to engage campus in a dialogue about the University's endowment by calling for more transparency in endowment investment holdings.
Duke for Endowment Transparency is a group created by students seeking more open information regarding the University's endowment transactions. It was formed in early February and has posted an online petition calling for student signatures to support the cause. The group has collected 51 signatures and the Facebook group had 155 members as of Wednesday night.
Junior Alex Robel, creator of the Facebook group, said the members are a "coalition of diverse students" at the University. Members of the group have sought support through tabling and speaking at meetings of various student organizations. Duke for Endowment Transparency formed from past conversations among these student organizations, Robel said.
"[Students] need to know where this money is coming from and how the University is investing the money," he said.
Disclosure of endowment activities would hinder the University's ability to maximize returns, Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations, wrote in an e-mail.
"[Duke University Management Company], the university's investment manager, has a practice consistent with many peer university endowments of declining to disclose specific investments for competitive reasons," he said.
Mark Orlowski, founder and executive director of the Sustainable Endowments Institute, noted that between 2008 and 2009 the percentage of schools that reveal some investment information increased from 23 to 36 percent.
"There are plenty of schools who disclose their returns and if they thought there would be ramifications for it, they would not do it," Orlowski said.
According to its online petition, Duke for Endowment Transparency is asking DUMAC to release information about the endowment's holding, including share volume, date of purchase and date of sale of stocks. The group also seeks updated quarterly reports with an account of all proxy votes.
Executive Vice President Tallman Trask said the University provides limited information, such as returns and asset allocation, on the endowment's Web site. Transactions and asset holdings, however, are not provided because they fluctuate so much, Trask said.
"We'll respond to questions if people have them, but it is not meaningful to just have a trading list of thousands of items... because these things are moving all the time," Trask said.
The College Sustainability Report Card, which is released by the Sustainable Endowments Institute to grade Universities on their commitment to sustainability, gave Duke a D for endowment transparency, which Duke for Endowment Transparency has used to support its cause. The average grade for endowment transparency was a D+. Only one in every three schools make their endowment holdings and investments available to their campus community, according to the College Sustainability Report Card's Web site.
In addition, the Duke for Endowment Transparency petition asks that the Advisory Committee of Investment Responsibility meet at least once every two months and allow students, faculty and staff members of the University to bring discussion topics to its agenda.
The ACIR is a University body that was formed in 2004 along with the President's Special Committee on Investment Responsibility after the Board of Trustees adopted a policy on socially responsible investing. According to a report on the creation of the PSC and the ACIR, both groups examine whether certain University investments may be harmed by unknowingly investing in a venture that is socially or environmentally damaging.
"ACIR is an exclusive committee-there are only two student representatives on it and if there are members of the Duke community who want to raise a point, there has to be a way for them to communicate with this committee," Robel said, noting that the ACIR has only met once in the last two years.
Schoenfeld said the ACIR only convenes at the PSC's request for review of proposals based on community concern, which is why no fixed meeting times for the ACIR exist.
"[ACIR has not]... met in a while because no one has raised a question," Trask said. "Faculty and students have shown interest in endowment investments in the past but not in the last year or more."
Schoenfeld said the University welcomes all constructive dialogue with any group or individuals interested in learning more about Duke's policies and practices.
Robel said although DUMAC has been successful in its investments, his initiative seeks to increase dialogue between the community and administrators.
"We're not asking for students to be involved in formulating the investment strategy... but that anyone in the Duke community-if they want it-has the ability to see what the endowment is investing in," he said.
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