STIR

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 * Students at Tufts for Investment Responsibility (STIR)** (2008 - present) is a movement that has grown out of years of pressing the Tufts administration to invest the endowment in more transparent, democratic, and socially responsible ways. They see themselves as part of a larger movement taking place on campuses nationwide, as well as in a growing number of businesses and other large and powerful institutional investors, to redefine the nature of investment beyond maximization of profits without regard to political, social, or environmental concerns. Their primary focus has been raising awareness on campus of endowment-related and responsible investing-related issues and pushing to empower the ACSR (Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility) into a position of greater leverage, transparency, oversight over the endowment's investment process. They were formed in the Fall of 2008 by a group of concerned seniors with the help and resources of the [|Responsible Endowments Coalition].

=History=

Formation
STIR was built from the ground up beginning in October 2008 with the assistance of organizing resources provided by the Responsible Endowments coalition. The original group consisted of five seniors; in the interest of maintaining a sustainable presence on campus in the years ahead, recruitment has been a high priority from the beginning.

Petition
A STIR-sponsored [|online petition] began to circulate in early January 2008, calling for the "reinstatement" of the ACSR, the body that is supposed to help advise Tufts in making socially responsible investment decisions, to its original ten-member plan of undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and alumni. To date the petition has gathered approximately 100 unique signatures online, and approximately 100 on paper. The petition was sent to President Lawrence Bacow, Executive Vice President Patricia Campbell, Vice Chair Peter Dolan, and the secretary of the Board of Trustees on February 4, 2009. The petition will remain open for signatures for the remainder of 2009.

Senate resolution
At the urging of STIR membership, the TCU Senate passed [|a resolution] on February 1, 2009, calling for the same expanded and empowered ACSR that the petition asked for. The vote was a unanimous 18-0-0 decision, the first unanimous decision since 2007. This was the second TCU Senate resolution passed in support of the ACSR; a resolution was passed in April 2008 calling for similar reform by a vote of 19-3.

Alliance building
STIR began the process of asking for support from other organizations to reach out to prospective new members, gain signatures for the petition, raise awareness on campus, and gain organizational resources during the 2008-2009 school year. In January 2009, STIR gained the endorsement of Banaa: The Sudan Educational Empowerment Network and the Muslim House. In addition, numerous members of the Queer Straight Alliance and the Tufts Energy Forum, neither of which officially endorse groups, added their names to the petition. STIR's closest ally during the 2008-09 school year was the Jumbo Janitor's Alliance.

=Agenda=

The primary goal of STIR for the 2008-2009 school year was to act as a supporting organization and an awareness/pressure mechanism in favor of expanded powers for the ACSR. Raising awareness about endowment transparency and oversight was important, but focusing on empowering the ACSR was seen as the first step. The long-term goal was determined to be continuing lobbying the administration for a more fiscally and socially responsible endowment, invested with transparency, oversight, and community participation. = = =Community Investment: 2010-2011=

With the aid of the Responsible Endowments Coalition, Caroline Incledon led STIR and the ACSR (renamed ACER, the Advisory Committee on Endowment Responsibility in 2011) to push the administration to make a $500,000 community investment.

The other main story of the 2010-2011 school year was the leaking of classified investment information related to the Tufts endowment by Jumboleaks, a student group unaffiliated with STIR.