Location: Upper Sayles
Time: 12:00 am
Secretary: Claire Milsted
CRIC minutes for January 11, 2011
Different Room
Today’s meeting occurred in a different room—this week, another group was using our preferred room. We will have the normal room back for the rest of this term, however.
Amy Domini Breakfast
In addition to the convocation and lunch, Amy Domini agreed to have breakfast with the CRIC. We think that a good time for this would be 8:30.
Further refining our list of resolutions
At our last meeting, we created a revised list of resolutions. Members were assigned to look over different resolutions within this list and to look for evidence of Carleton values pertaining to this resolution, and start to think of arguments to use when presenting this to the trustees. This info allowed us to further refine the list during today’s meeting. We will do a final polish during our next meeting, on January 18th.
Information presented (categorized by resolution):
A. Child Labor in the Tobacco Supply Chain: Philip Morris International
Due to a recent Human Rights Watch exposé, Phillip Morris shareholders have been aware that Phillip Morris’s supply chain may include child workers in Khazakstan. The company has taken some steps regarding this issue, but their response has been super-vague. The company does not give the impression that they would be hurt by the resolution’s proposed more definitive policy against hiring/buying from those who use child labor. This resolution seems like a good one to bring up.
B. Hydraulic Fracturing (Toxic Chemicals): El Paso, Exxon Mobil
We voted for a Hydraulic Fracturing resolution at El Paso last year; it was withdrawn for some reason. Now the same resolution, with a very slightly different wording, is being filed by the same people. Besides looking into the question of why this happened, not much new work needs to be done. This resolution also seems like a good one to bring up.
C. Adopt Greenhouse Gas Reduction Goals – Report: Exxon
Exxon already has some GHG reduction goals, and there is probably a financial reason for them not to adopt stricter ones. On the other hand, protecting the environment is definitely a Carleton value. Carleton has an ambitious GHG reduction goal. This resolution addresses flaring, which is something else we could bring up in our arguments. Exxon is also a big contributor to global warming, so this resolution seems like a good one to bring up.
D. Political Contributions: 3M, EOG Resources, Goldman Sachs , AND Political Contributions – Global Warming: Occidental Petroleum
These resolutions call for transparency in political contributions. There are two “corporate self-interest” arguments that could be made here. First, transparency can help corporations avoid public backlash when contributions that they tried to keep quiet come to light-a good example would be the scandal involving Target’s contributions to Tom Emmer. Second, since many corporations already have similar policies, these corporations should keep up with potential competitors by also adopting such a policy. The global-warming-related resolution would tie into our Carleton environmental values.
E. Human Rights – Develop and Adopt Policies: Raytheon
Raytheon does not really have a human rights policy, so even though this one might not be very effective, it would be better than the status quo. Also, this policy would make things more transparent. We will email the filer of this resolution for further information.
F. Separate Chair and CEO: Exxon, Goldman Sachs, IBM
This resolution has been filed before at Goldman Sachs, and got 19.9% of the vote. Many banks have a non-seperated system, but many have a separated system. Goldman Sachs had claimed that a non-seperated system is better for responding to crises, but the recent financial crisis should cast doubt on this claim. Also, at Carleton, the board of trustees is separate from the President.
G. Sustainability Report/Climate Change Disclosure: Emerson Electric
We cannot present this resolution because the vote on it occurs too early.
H. Sexual Orientation and Non-Discrimination: Exxon Mobil
This resolution has come up every year since 1997. Exxon Mobil claims that they don’t discriminate, but they have no written policy. Written policies are generally standard practice in this situation. Diversity is also an obvious Carleton value.
I. Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO): Home Depot
This resolution is the same as last year’s. We will email the filers about it.
J. Code Protecting Children: Carnival Corp
We can probably make a self-interest claim here: Child trafficking is an issue that many people care about, and many other companies are signing the Code.