College earns high sustainability marks

Author: Derek Schlickeisen

Middlebury's efforts to achieve sustainability in its campus operations and endowment investments have earned the College high marks from Sustainable Endowments Institute (SEI), a national non-profit which recently ranked schools on their progress towards social responsibility.

The College received the highest possible ratings in seven of eight categories in the survey, drawing praise for green building and recycling on campus as well as investing its endowment in companies with strong environmental and social records. Its overall grade of A- represents an improvement over last year's B+, and its only low rating, a C - came in the category of endowment transparency.

The improved rating makes Middlebury one of six "Overall College Sustainability Leaders," joining neighboring Dartmouth and the University of Vermont on a list chosen from 200 institutions rated by the survey. The list also includes Harvard, Carleton College and the University of Washington.

"The overall rating is encouraging," said Treasurer Bob Huth and Manager of Treasury and Finance Derek Hammel in a joint statement. "We are pleased to have received a higher grade than last year."

Despite its praise for Middlebury's broader efforts at sustainability, SEI's report does criticize the College for failing to publicize the exact details of its endowment holdings.

"Endowment holdings are made available to select members of the school community such as the Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investment," the report reads. "[Records of investment decisions] are available only to trustees and senior administrators."

The low marks for endowment transparency do not, however, leave Middlebury in bad company; the average grade for the category was a 'D'.

Those familiar with the College's finances argue that the poor rating in this one category comes more as a technicality than as a reflection on the social responsibility of its investments.

"Due to the construction of the College's investment portfolio, it does not allow for full transparency," said Ronald D. Liebowitz, president of the College. "In addition, the investment strategies of some of our investment are proprietary, meaning we cannot provide a full listing of holdings."

Liebowitz added that the College does maintain a list of "do not touch" companies in which the money-management firms to whom the endowment is entrusted are told not to invest.

Siddharth Baveja '09 of the Student Investment Committee (SIC) explained that this list adds weight to Middlebury's claim to a socially-responsible endowment.

"These are companies that, in the school's view, have not followed guidelines for sustainability in corporate governance," said Baveja. "PetroChina is one of them, and there was a huge uproar last year against this and other companies involved in financially fueling the Darfur conflict."

According to Liebowitz, a letter was sent at the time to all of the College's investment managers requesting that they divest from firms named highest offenders' by the Sudan Divestment Task Force.

Baveja added that this was not the only occasion on which the SIC, a student-run group responsible for investing a portion of the College's endowment, has been forced to abandon lucrative investments due to the administration's blacklisting of companies for their poor social track records.

"We know firsthand that Middlebury does take social stands in investing," he said.

Baveja said his committee has also found that information regarding the College's endowment holdings, noting that the SIC's blacklist is available to anyone upon request.

Like the vast majority of College endowments, Middlebury's is administered on a day-to-day basis by private investment managers. As a result, officials within the College have difficulty tracking which companies precisely the College has invested in.

In all, "the College believes that investing, monitoring, and sharing information on the endowment is done appropriately and is comfortable with the transparency in our portfolio," said Liebowitz.

Nationwide trends noted by the SEI's sustainability survey include the spread of green building and carbon reduction commitments to dozens more campuses each year.