Harvard University announced its intention to create a Social Choice Fund, giving student and alumni donors an opportunity to contribute money that will be invested using socially responsible criteria. The fund, to be established by July 2013, will be managed separately from the University’s endowment.
Harvard’s announcement came as a response to a joint student and alumni movement that started nine months ago.
"We're glad that we're seeing this come to fruition within the calendar year that it began," said Krishna Dasaratha, a senior at Harvard College and a member of the student group Responsible Investment at Harvard.
A November campus referendum showed that a majority of Harvard undergraduates support a socially responsible fund as part of the endowment.
"Student movements, especially student movements like this one, which are proposing constructive solutions and the direction for positive change can be really successful," said Dasaratha. "It's an encouraging sign that the university does take student voice seriously."
