THE NEW SCHOOL ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON INVESTOR RESPONSIBILITY CALLS FOR MANDATORY DISCLOSURE OF CORPORATE POLITICAL SPENDING |
| NEW YORK, Friday, October 19 -- The New School's Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility (ACIR) today submitted a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) calling for disclosure of political spending by public corporations. Composed of trustees, faculty, staff and students of The New School, the committee is charged with incorporating consideration of social, environmental, and corporate governance issues into the management of the university's endowment investments. The ACIR's letter to the SEC is the first from a university body in support of Petition 4-637, which urges the SEC to use its rule-making authority to mandate disclosure of corporate campaign financing.
"It has become increasingly clear that non-transparent and unaccountable corporate financing of political campaigns is corroding our democracy," said Terra Lawson-Remer, professor of international affairs and ACIR chair"“Following the Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United, political campaigns have been flooded by soft money of ambiguous origin, which,raises the importance of the issue for higher education in particular. American universities, which collectively hold more than $400 billion in their endowments, need to demonstrate to their constituents that their investments align with the ethos of their institution." The New School ACIR is urging the SEC to mandate the disclosure of material corporate political spending to facilitate market transparency, assist shareholders in monitoring the spending practices of the corporations they own, provide the information necessary for universities to invest prudently and in line with their missions, and illuminate the influence of corporations during the election season. "Universities play the dual role of investors and educators in a dynamic environment," said Izza Aftab, a graduate student in economics at The New School and a student representative on the ACIR. "It is absolutely essential that universities call for transparency in corporate political spending." Non-transparency, and the corresponding failures of weak accountability and poor governance, undermines the values and practices of educational institutions. These concerns are of particular concern at The New School, given its long history of progressive social action and critical thought. |
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Media Contacts: Peter Taback, Terra Lawson-Remer, Dan Apfel, |
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