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Investing with a conscience

To The Editor:

We agree: Penn's endowment campaign could help make President Gutmann a hero of higher education (10/25/2007 "Looking Ahead"). The funds raised will let Penn uphold its commitment to principled research and study for the benefit of our local and global community.

As Gutmann wrote in a recent e-mail statement, such standards are critical to "transforming humanity."

But as she knows, more than talk and fundraising are required for Penn to achieve these laudable goals.

Penn hopes to raise $3.5 billion for the endowment. As DP columnist Meredith Aska McBride argued forcefully in a recent column, how that money is invested matters. Is Penn investing in tobacco while it researches cancer? Investing in oil while it purchases wind power? Investing in weapon-makers while it studies peace?

To date, Penn has no social or environmental criterion for investments. Unfortunately, we can only speculate about where the money goes, as information about the endowment is unavailable to the community.

So far, efforts by students and faculty to institutionalize socially responsible investment practices have been rebuffed.

Like Gutmann and the Trustees, we know that a strong endowment is important for many reasons. But as anyone with a little fighting Quaker spirit knows, "Laws without morals are in vain." Our investments should reflect this motto, for investments without morals discredit our institutional values and may even support firms whose work contradicts them.

As the administration appeals to us to donate billions to improve our school, we appeal to them to make sure our contributions are not used to compromise worthy ambitions for Penn.

Contact the investment office and ask where the endowment is invested. As Gutmann knows, there is a real opportunity to make a great university better. We hope she will answer this call.

Farah Mokhtareizade Rob Goldberg Lydia Pecker

The authors are members of the Penn Chapter of the Responsible Endowments Coalition

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