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Hi, you can see the original sender’s email address. Be my guest.
E
On Jan 18, 2024, at 11:21 AM, James Fleming <james_fleming@sfu.ca> wrote:
Hi Eugene. Perhaps you could forward back, in return, these questions:
1) Why do you want Israel not to have an army?
2) What do you think would happen if it didn't?
Sincerely, JDF
James Dougal Fleming
Professor, Department of English
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby/Vancouver,
British Columbia,
Canada.
The truth is an offence, but not a sin.
-- Bob Marley
From: Eugene McCann <emccann@sfu.ca>
Sent: January 18, 2024 11:01 AM
To: Faculty Forum Mail List
Subject: Re: Opportunity to sign a letter supporting SFU's divestment from firms associated with the Israel Defence Forces
Hi again colleagues,
I’ve been asked to forward the following message on from the people who are continuing the push for SFU to divest from IDF-associated investments.
Eugene
From: Laura Marks <laura_marks@sfu.ca>
Subject: Report on military divestment meeting with president Johnson and VP Finance Martin Pachurko
Date: January 18, 2024 at 10:22:54 AM PST
Dear colleagues,
I had a very good meeting today with Joy Johnson and Martin Pachurko, VP Finance.
I thanked Joy for her suggestion to Adel that we meet. I was pleased that they took our request seriously even though the letter has only 137 signatories. They said they appreciated that we had done our homework.
I explained that we analyzed SFU’s investments as of 2022 investment statement. I noted with appreciation that SFU has many harmless investments, e.g. in food, hospital equipment, farming equipment, packaging, Costco. There’s still one fossil fuel company and
a lot of mining companies.
I said I understand that SFU is hurting after divesting almost completely from fossil fuels. Later Martin explained it’s because SFU is selling off bonds that hold fossil fuels and the bond market is poor.
I then made our requests for direct divestments from the arms companies CAE, BAE, and Booz Allen Hamilton, and from banks directly or indirectly investing in the Israeli military, Scotia and RBC, as explained in our letter.
Joy pointed out that SFU has a Responsible Investment Policy.
Martin explained that investments in companies are mostly through fund managers. They invest responsibly following ESG criteria, though still some carbon investments. As well as divesting from fossil fuels as of 2022, in the past SFU has discussed divesting
from tobacco and military holdings. (I wonder when that happened.) They want to be thoughtful, not reactionary. He noted it’s very difficult to divest entirely, e.g. if you divest from fossil fuels, do you also divest from trains that transport them.
He noted that responsible investing is becoming very popular. (This is my experience too: my RRSP has been shopped around different “responsible” funds and is in a very good one now.)
Martin explained SFU’s investment criteria:
1. extent of SFU holdings in the fun, hence ability to influence it
2. degree in contribution to social injury: clear in case of arms companies
3. will investment produce a positive outcome. Rather than divest from the fund manager, should SFU stay in the fund and use shareholder influence? Or they can ask them to partition the fund. This is expensive for the fund manager to do and they would pass
on the costs to SFU.
4. investments must be consistent w SFU’s fiduciary responsibility to donors (mostly to endowments). Investment advisory committee seeks to maximize investment within the framework provided by board
Finally, Joy made this commitment: They will pass our divestment request to the Finance and Administration Committee, who will study it and pass it to the Responsible Investment Committee. They in turn will make a recommendation. I hope they will recommend
that the request be taken to the Board of Governors, and that the BoG will approve a divestment.
If there is a good outcome I think it will be that SFU choose a different fund manager, or they pressure the manager to divest, or they request the fund be partitioned.
It will be a slow process. I will check in with Joy periodically to see how it is going.
Yours, Laura
On Dec 23, 2023, at 9:03 AM, Eugene McCann <emccann@sfu.ca> wrote:
Hi again,
FYI: The authors of the divestment letter (below) have made an adjustment to the wording of who it’s addressed to and they asked me to forward on the change. They’re changing the letter to read, "we, the undersigned faculty, staff, and students of SFU,
call on the university" instead of "call on the Board of Governors.”
Best,
Eugene
On Dec 13, 2023, at 12:31 PM, Eugene McCann <emccann@sfu.ca> wrote:
Hi all,
I’ve been asked to forward the following link to this list. It’s a letter to the Board of Governors, arguing that SFU should divest from the following five companies that support the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).
You can sign the letter, if so inclined, by filling in the box at the bottom (scroll down to the end of the list of signatories). If you’re having any technical issues signing, contact Roxanne Panchasi: panchasi@sfu.ca.
Best,
Eugene
_______________________________________________________
Eugene McCann (he/him/his)
Professor, Geography
Associate Faculty, Sociology & Anthropology
Simon Fraser University
Managing Editor, EPC: Politics & Space
https://journals.sagepub.com/home/epc
Minor Revisions podcast
https://journals.sagepub.com/page/epc/collections/podcasts
Personal website: https://emccanngeog.wordpress.com
Contact information:
Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University,
8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada
Unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Email: emccann@sfu.ca; Phone: 778-782-3321
_______________________________________________________
Eugene McCann (he/him/his)
Professor, Geography
Associate Faculty, Sociology & Anthropology
Simon Fraser University
Managing Editor, EPC: Politics & Space
https://journals.sagepub.com/home/epc
Minor Revisions podcast
https://journals.sagepub.com/page/epc/collections/podcasts
Personal website: https://emccanngeog.wordpress.com
Contact information:
Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University,
8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada
Unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Email: emccann@sfu.ca; Phone: 778-782-3321
_______________________________________________________
Eugene McCann (he/him/his)
Professor, Geography
Associate Faculty, Sociology & Anthropology
Simon Fraser University
Managing Editor, EPC: Politics & Space
https://journals.sagepub.com/home/epc
Minor Revisions podcast
https://journals.sagepub.com/page/epc/collections/podcasts
Personal website: https://emccanngeog.wordpress.com
Contact information:
Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University,
8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada
Unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Email: emccann@sfu.ca; Phone: 778-782-3321
_______________________________________________________
Eugene McCann (he/him/his)
Professor, Geography
Associate Faculty, Sociology & Anthropology
Simon Fraser University
Managing Editor, EPC: Politics & Space
https://journals.sagepub.com/home/epc
Minor Revisions podcast
https://journals.sagepub.com/page/epc/collections/podcasts
Personal website: https://emccanngeog.wordpress.com
Contact information:
Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University,
8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada
Unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Email: emccann@sfu.ca; Phone: 778-782-3321
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