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November 09, 1999
Students Push for Corporate Responsibility at National Conference
Social investing gets a boost from students in the Student Alliance to Reform Corporations.
SocialFunds.com --
At Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, more than 400 undergraduate students from universities
across the country gathered at a conference titled "Students Challenging Corporate Power." The
conference, from November 5-7, was sponsored by the Student Alliance to Reform Corporations
(STARC), and initiated their national campaign for ethical investing by universities.
 STARC was founded in April by a handful of
students in the northeastern U.S. who recognized the social and environmental transgressions of
corporations and the need for a national student movement to challenge corporate power. As members
of university communities, these students are speaking out against a broad range of corporate
practices that perpetuate racism, destroy environments, and exploit workers.
"Students
today are demanding that universities stop profiting from unjust corporate practices," said Terra
Lawson-Remer, co-founder of STARC. As both major stockholders and leading social institutions,
colleges and universities stand in a good position to challenge corporations for unethical
practices. The STARC conference was the beginning of a bold attempt by students to see that they
do.
"The conference allowed us to see how strong and large our organization has grown in a
short time period," said Kathryn Kline, a Yale student and media representative of STARC.
The goals of the conference were to articulate the guiding principles of the movement and to
launch a national campaign for socially responsible investing by colleges and universities. A third
goal was to join the international campaign for accountability at the World Trade Organization,
which is holding its four-year Ministerial meeting in Seattle on November 29.
Toward those
goals, an official declaration of STARC's mission was drafted and finalized in a series of
conference workshops, led by a coalition of progressive student organizers. The declaration
outlines principles of corporate conduct that disallow abuses of people and the earth.
Participants also drafted a proposal on socially responsibly investing by colleges and
universities that stresses issues of human rights, labor rights, indigenous rights, equity and
discrimination, safe/unsafe products, animal rights, the environment, and public disclosure. The
proposal suggests university investment policies that will encourage ethical corporate conduct.
"We were amazed by the high level of knowledge of most of the participants," said Kline.
"Many conference attendees had been on the STARC listservs for months and had participated in email
discussions about STARC and the socially responsible investing campaign. Participants showed
enthusiasm, conviction, and significant determination and knowledge."
Several keynote
speakers highlighted the negative impacts of some corporations on people and the earth. Among them
were Dr. Owen Saro-Wiwa, brother of executed Nigerian poet, journalist, and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa,
who spoke about the environmental degradation caused by oil drilling on indigenous Ogone lands.
Emma Jane Crate, a member of the Cree nation from Manitoba, spoke about the impact of the
hydroelectric industry on her people's traditional culture and way of life.
"Environmental issues were a major concern for conference participants," said Kline. "Labor
rights and treatment of workers were another significant area of concern. Many STARC activists are
involved in the anti-sweatshop movement."
University students have never been tight-lipped
about social and environmental issues, and their involvement in the South African divestment
movement was instrumental in the evolution of social investing as we now know it. But the
organization of a nationwide student movement demanding a broad range of social and environmental
investing standards of their universities, is an important hallmark in student involvement and a
potentially powerful force for corporations to reckon with.
www.corpreform.org
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