January 4, 2011 Meeting

Location: Upper Sayles

Time: 12:00 am

Secretary: Claire Milsted

CRIC minutes for January 4, 2011

Meeting Time

We are meeting Tuesdays during common time (12-1PM).   Some people were unable to make today’s meeting, but we think that this is the optimal time because it seems to be the only time when there are no systemic conflicts

Work done over break

Over break, we had divided up the alphabet, and we each researched a group of companies.  We then came up with a few resolutions each and sent them to Kirsten, who made a categorized list.  The main goal of today’s meeting was to revise this list.

Continued Alerts

Alerts continue to come to us from Ethvest; we should keep an eye on them.

Revising the list

We first discussed the length of the list.  The list should not be made too long, but if one resolution has popped up at many different companies we should include all of those companies.

One very important thing to consider is the resolutions that were accepted by the trustees last year.  If these resolutions come up at other companies, we should be sure to include them on our list.

The criteria we use should be Carleton values and Carleton’s self-interest as a shareholder.  We discussed how Carleton values relate to the categories we established.

After our discussion, each member of the committee selected their top ten priorities from the list.  We then took a vote based on these lists—the resolutions that were on the lists of five or more committee-members were put on the revised list.  Resolutions from last year (Hydraulic Fracturing, Equal Employment/Nondiscrimination, and Executive compensation/say-on-pay) were automatically placed on the list.

We also included the “Separate Chair and CEO” resolutions from Exxon, Goldman Sachs, and IBM—we believe that the trustees would like these resolutions because a separate chair and CEO could help our interests as shareholders.

We then divided up the list and gave people assignments.  Our final list, including assignments, is as follows:

Revised List:

 – Sexual Orientation and Non-Discrimination: Exxon Mobil (David S)
 – Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO): Home Depot (David S)
 – Hydraulic Fracturing (Toxic Chemicals): El Paso, Exxon Mobil (Amanda)
 – Executive Compensation – Review: Goldman Sachs (Vivaan)
 – Political Contributions: 3M, EOG Resources, Goldman Sachs (Joel, David T)
 – Political Contributions – Global Warming: Occidental Petroleum (Joel, David T.)
 – Sustainability Report/Climate Change Disclosure: Emerson Electric (Fadi)
 – Adopt Greenhouse Gas Reduction Goals – Report: Exxon (Amanda)
 – Code Protecting Children: Carnival Corp (Kristen)
 – Child Labor in the Tobacco Supply Chain: Philip Morris International (Joe)
 – Human Rights – Develop and Adopt Policies: Raytheon (Divya)
 – Separate Chair and CEO: Exxon, Goldman Sachs, IBM (Divya, Chris)

Assignments for next meeting

The committee-members will read the resolutions they have been assigned.  They will look for evidence of Carleton values pertaining to this resolution, and start to think of arguments to use when presenting this to the trustees.  Kirsten has sent out examples of such arguments from last year.  Also, committee-members should look at any corporate responses to the resolutions, and consider problems that the resolutions may have.  A final thing to keep in mind is our interest as shareholders—we want to be able to weigh any harm that these resolutions could do to the companies.

This work is due Sunday night.

Speaker

Committee-members should email Kerry Raadt and RSVP if they want to go to the lunch after Amy Domini’s convocation speech.

Sustainable Investments Institute

An acquaintance of Joel’s works at the Sustainable Investments Institute.  It is a competitor of the service we use (the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility), and we don’t see any reason to switch services at present.  However, this acquaintance of Joel’s could come to Carleton as a speaker for the CRIC.