Investment Responsibility
Founded in 1885 by Leland and Jane Lathrop Stanford, the University was established to train and educate individuals for “personal success and direct usefulness in life.” The purpose of the endowment is to support the University in meeting its educational mission now and in the future.
Stanford Trustees, as endowment fiduciaries, are charged with overseeing the health and growth of the endowment to meet that educational mission.
Trustees have a primary responsibility to ensure that investing and managing endowment securities maximizes the financial return on those resources, while taking into account the amount of risk appropriate for University investment policy.
However, when the Trustees adjudge that the policies or practices of a corporation the university invests in could cause substantial social injury, they, as responsible and ethical investors, shall give independent weight to this factor in determining investment responsibility policies and voting proxies on corporate securities.
Investment Responsibility is addressing allegations of substantial social injury by companies in which the University invests. It is not addressing the day-to-day business affairs and operation of the University, nor is it investing endowment securities to remedy social injustices.
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