About the Investment Working Group

A charge from the president in December 2013 called for the creation of a Task Force on Divestment. The group worked from fall 2014 to spring 2015 to review the impacts of fossil fuel divestment on the college’s endowment and annual budget and provided a report to the Board of Trustees. Click here for the Board of Trustees' response to the recommendations from the Task Force on Divestment.

Pat Oles, Faculty in the Social Work Department, delivered a faculty motion in March 2017 which resolved the faculty to “urge the Board of Trustees to 1) reconsider recommendations 1, 5 and 6 from the [Task Force on Divestment] report and 2) to work diligently with the faculty, students, and administration to develop a meaningful process for aligning investment philosophy with institutional mission and values.” 

The Investment Working Group convened from fall 2017 to spring 2018 to address a host of ethical questions put forth within the president’s charge. They generated a survey to evaluate the Skidmore college community’s perception of ethics and endowment portfolio, which was delivered via email in December, and yielded  over 500 unique responses. The Working Group put forth a draft of a faculty motion in April 2018 with a preliminary report. A community forum was held on Tuesday, April 24, 2018 at noon in Davis Auditorium. A revised motion for May 2018 which took into account campus discussions and deliberations was released, discussed in the faculty meeting, and passed. 

 

Committee Members Included:

Pamela Fisher, Staff

William Lewis, Faulty

Jennifer Natyzak, Staff

Pat Oles, Faculty

Emma Studevant, Class of 2018

Jessica Sullivan, Faculty