About The Long Guide

This guide has been prepared by the Oxford University Student Union Ethics Committee as a guide to anyone in an Oxford Collegewho wishes to encourage his/her college authorities to consider investing the college’s money in an ethical way. It explains some of the steps you should take to maximize your chances of a successful outcome, and offers different strategies to help you think laterally if you meet the occasional brick wall.

We wrote this guide when it became clear that pushing for socially responsible investment was something that lots of individual colleges were attempting (with varied levels of success) or considering (with more or less idea about how to begin). We have tried to collect the experiences of college members who have already campaigned for socially responsible investment (SRI) and to solidify the anecdotal advice which has proved useful to others in the past. It incorporates some of the legal considerations with which you will probably need to be familiar if you want to negotiate effectively. We have also included a model common room motions, a model common room questionnaire and a contacts bank to help you do your own research.

This guide will probably be most useful if you read it all the way through before you approach your college authorities. It is designed to be something of a step-by-step guide, but unless you are exceptionally lucky you will certainly meet the odd obstacle and need to think again. We hope that this book will tell you most of what you’ll need to know: please get in touch with ethics@ousu.org and tell us your experiences so that we can keep the guide as up to date and comprehensive as possible.

Encouraging your college to move over to socially responsible investment might be difficult, but it is undoubtedly worthwhile. Good luck, and remember that Ethics Committee is there to help you if you need us.

Thanks

This guide was written and produced by Katriona Higgins (St John’s), Charles Smith (St Anne’s) and Melanie Marshall (VP Women 2002-3). They would like to thank Matthew Sellwood (New), Christopher Hanretty (St Anne’s), Helena Puig Larrauri(St Hilda’s) and Anne-Marie Bryceson, Espen Collins and Andrew Copson (all Balliol) for their invaluable help in its production.

Posted on 23/10/04 by admin