Divestment from Violence Against Marginalized Communities

Concern Area: Divestment from Violence Against Marginalized Communities

Progress as of September 30, 2016

Follow Up Items

1. Director of Investment Responsibility Stakeholder Relations Alison Colwell has been working with the group of WTU students – SU Prison Divest – on their Request for Review submission to APIRL (Advisory Panel on Investment Responsibility and Licensing). SU Prison Divest submitted a revised request on September 16, 2016, and will present to the APIRL. The group has been invited to present to the APIRL in early October.
2. Debbie Mukamal, Executive Director of Stanford’s Criminal Justice Center, compiled a resource compendium in 2014 on opportunities for students to better understand and be engaged with efforts to improve the criminal justice system. This summer, the Director of Investment Responsibility worked with her to update the compendium. The compendium contains information about research institutes, centers, programs, courses, seminars, service opportunities, fellowships, student-run journals, and alumni-run nonprofits – all relating to this issue. The compendium document is below. It will be considered a “live” document, updated regularly with input from Stanford faculty, staff, students, and alumni.

Initial Meeting: April 15, 2016

Attendees
WTU representatives:
Robert Bacchus, Dan Brown, Skye Lovett, Chloe Wiggins

Administration/Staff:
Alison Colwell (Director of Investment Responsibility Stakeholder Relations); Sally Dickson (Special Assistant to the President), Nicole Taylor (AVP & Dean of Community Engagement & Diversity)

Discussion Summary
Discussed students’ interest in divestment from prisons and companies that are affiliated with the management of prisons, including:

• Why students want the university to divest holdings in companies that run private prisons;

• Possible alternatives to divestment and work being done at Stanford and in the Bay Area on criminal justice and prison reform; and,

• Reviewed the new Request for Review form that students would need to complete and the APIRL process.

Next Steps
1. Director of Investment Responsibility Stakeholder Relations Alison Colwell will work with WTU students on their Request for Review submission to APIRL. All materials will be distributed to community once filed and reviewed for completeness. Formal review and hearings will likely begin in Fall 2016 once new student members of the APIRL are seated (current student members rotate off and/or graduate June 2016).

2. Encourage students to think beyond divestment and consider alternative strategies to impact our criminal justice system, and the effects of the prison system on communities of color. Nicole Taylor and Sally Dickson will meet with students about experts and organizations working on criminal justice and prison reform, both at Stanford and in the Bay Area, and how students can engage with these people and movements. (Follow up meeting set for 5/3/16)