December 14, 2023 | OPINION | By Aditya Yadav
The Colorado College Student Government Association is perhaps the most important asset for students regarding individual and collective student life at Colorado College. Student government provides meaningful work for students and remains a materialization of what is arguably CC’s premier virtue: democracy. Increasing the effectiveness of CCSGA necessitates improved financial oversight to better meet the needs of the students whom it represents.
Cutler Publications, an independent non-profit organization that oversees “high-quality student journalism at Colorado College” including The Catalyst, Cipher, Leviathan and Anamnesis recently revamped its financial method. This revamping was instituted because Cutler Publication’s returns on its investments – of which high-quality journalism is dependent upon – generated previously insignificant returns.
In this past year, the Colorado College Investment Club, in conjunction with Cutler Publications, worked to form a student-led group to manage Cutler’s investments.
The new project yields three things. Firstly, the active interest from passionate CC students who have the expertise and financial acumen needed to effectively invest. Secondly, CC’s values – such as sustainability, equity and democracy, among others – to govern investment activity which allows CC to remain true to its most valuable asset: the students. Thirdly, profitability – that is, broadening the outreach that Cutler Publications can provide for students through journalism.
The financial method the investment club introduced to Cutler is impact investing, also known under the moniker of environmental, social and governance investing.
As defined by the Global Impact Investing Network, “Impact investments are investments made with the intention to generate positive, measurable social and environmental impact alongside a financial return . . . The growing impact investment market provides capital to address the world’s most pressing challenges in sectors such as sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, conservation, microfinance and affordable and accessible basic services including housing, healthcare, and education.”
The student-led group that now manages Cutler Publication’s investing is designed to meet impact investing criteria attuned to CC’s virtues and values. If done right, impact investing is very profitable in two domains: one in the material, quantifiable domain, it generates highly profitable returns, and two, in the immeasurable domain with qualities such as goodwill, ethics, and happiness – that which cannot be easily quantified.
A prime example of the efficacy of impact investing is the financial firm RockCreek, which, according to their website, “is among the largest woman-founded and inclusive firms in the world. The team has a long-standing commitment to sustainability as well as deep experience with impact investing and ESG policies that date back to the 1980s. This includes investing in energy, health, technology, education, affordable housing and financial inclusion globally in both developed and Emerging Markets. RockCreek’s unique history and culture set us apart and are reflected in the way we hire diverse team members who strive to deliver exceptional performance and positive impacts.”
Since its founding in 2003 by Iranian economist and entrepreneur Afsaneh Mashayekhi Beschloss, RockCreek has acquired $16 billion in assets and has, “invested $8.5 billion with diverse teams since the firm’s inception, including more than $2.7 billion in women-owned firms, more than $1.75 billion in Latino-owned firms and more than $1.2 billion in Black-owned firms.”
In the male-dominated world of finance and rapacious shareholders, Beschloss, an Iranian woman, has shown that dyed-in-the-wool altruistic principles underlying investment activity can be successful and that this, coupled with the collective rather than individualistic pursuits of RockCreek, shows that impact investing could have started years ago.
Now, turning back to our campus, I believe that CCSGA should institute what Cutler Publications has done – that is, instituting a student-led active investment management group (of course, with proper oversight). CC’s commitment to democracy should be upheld by allowing the CC community and student body to have a say in where the money goes.
Right now, CCSGA’s budget is generating insignificant returns, truncating its outreach and efficacy in meeting students’ needs. A student-led investment group that manages CCSGA’s budget – just like the approach Cutler Publications has taken – would allow for material profitability as well as a commitment to CC’s values and the greater good.
The Reinvestment Coalition at CC is already working to reconfigure the college’s endowment to divest from unsustainable pursuits, such as fossil fuels, and reinvest toward financial goals that also benefit the greater good, rather than profitability for the sake of profitability.