Letter to the Editor

I was deeply disappointed to read that only nine students attending the advisory committee on investor responsibility forum, mainly because I would have gone, had I known it was happening. As a new student at Lang, I have been asking around all semester to see if anyone knew what the status was with the committee, and several students seemed to be under the impression that it had dissolved. So perhaps you I cannot blame the pathetic attendance on apathy as much as publicity failure.

Sure, investment policy itself might be boring, but are you bored by South African apartheid, Latin American coups, or the war in Afghanistan? American university investment has enabled some of the most controversial human rights abuses of the past century…hardly what I would call dull. Even if foreign affairs is not your cup of tea, your tuition money with responsible investments could be supporting not only the university, but also low-come families or renewable energy companies.

Activism is not just about occupying buildings…activism is sitting in boring meetings, researching investment policies, and conversing with well-to-do trustees. Let us continue the New School’s activist past with a new wave of change-making.

The New School should be proud of instituting a responsible investment committee. Rather than articles in our own school newspaper using Macalester College as a good example of community investment, let us be an example to the rest of the country for what ethical investment looks like.

Elana Bulman,
Junior, Lang College