Union plans to select students for endowment committee

Student Union said students have until Wednesday to apply to help review socially responsible investing for Boston University’s endowment, members said.

Union announced at the general assembly meeting Monday that it is accepting applications for the two spots on the ad hoc committee that will work with the Board of Trustees, which oversees where the endowment funds go, said Union President Howard Male.

“We passed the resolution encouraging the university to adopt their proposal in order to make sure that the university’s endowment is being invested in an ethical manner and in companies that behave ethically,” the senior in the School of Hospitality and School of Management said.

The committee will include board members, administrators, faculty and staff who will look into how the endowment is spent.
Male said the board modified some components of the proposal, but the majority of it passed recently. He could not provide an exact date of when it passed.

“There was a group of students who are passionate about this issue who developed a proposal, brought that before Union late last year and we voted as a body to support their proposal,” Male said. “They then took that resolution along with their proposal all the way up to the president’s office.”

College of Arts and Sciences junior Brandon Wood, who is closely tied to the students who approached Union with its proposal, said it is important for students to know where that endowment money is going.

“We have invested interest and we have the right to know where BU is spending its money,” Wood said.

BU spokesman Colin Riley said BU endowment is partly funded by donations, though the breakdown is complex. The endowment, which was $18.8 million in 1970, measured at $1.1 billion as of Sept. 30, 2011.

“We are a tuition-dependent school,” Riley said. “The money that comes from tuition pays about half of the operating budget.”

Students would like to eventually see transparency within the operating budget, Wood said.

“This is the first step in many steps that should be taken,” he said. “We also need to start having a conversation [about] how BU spends its money at our university and having that transparency as well.”

While tuition pays for about half of the operating budget for expenses such as faculty and staff salaries and benefits, Riley said. Tuition does not fund any part of the endowment.

Male said Union members, as well as other students on campus, have shown interest.

“There have been some senators who have applied, but the majority of the people who have applied are not currently involved with Union,” Male said. “Our job is just to look at the undergraduate student body as a whole and find the people who are going to be most effective in representing the needs of students on this particular issue.”

CORRECTION: The deadline for student applications was originally set for Friday. However, Union extended the deadline to Wednesday.