The UW System Board of Regents Business and Finance Committee met Thursday to discuss the system's financial investment policy. Some students who spoke at the meeting questioned the university's social responsibility in its investments.
Kevin Boatright, assistant vice president of UW System Communications, said Peter DiSimone of the Investors Responsible Research Center spoke regarding UW's proxy voting system.
\Proxy voting allows absentee votes to be sent in through the mail over financial matters and investment decisions,"" Boatright said. ""DiSimone's organization has a contractual agreement with the university to monitor the process.""
Boatright later explained the process of how UW interacts with the IRRC about financial queries.
""IRRC gives recommendations on how the committee can maintain socially responsible standards with the UW system over certain financial or investment issues,"" Boatright said.
This process has come under the scrutiny of various students, especially because many feel UW affiliates with socially irresponsible corporations.
""We should not invest in corporations that discriminate on the basis or race or gender,"" UW-Madison sophomore Pabitra Benjamin said.
Benjamin attended the meeting and spoke about her concerns with UW's affiliation with companies such as Lehman Brothers.
""Lehman Brothers has given millions to the Corrections Corporation of America, one of the largest private prison industries in the nation, to get them out of trouble,"" she said.
Benjamin said she was upset about this because the CCA is discriminatory and irresponsible through their practices and their bad name hurts UW through affiliation.
""I just wish more students would have turned out because students on campus talk about how UW should not invest in corporations that exploit people,"" she said.
