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SWARTHMORE, Pa., Feb. 23 (AScribe Newswire) -- Swarthmore College once again has used its position as a shareholder to effect change in corporate America.
Under pressure from the College, two Fortune 500 companies have agreed to broaden their equal opportunity polices to bar discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The action follows Swarthmore's notification of each company of the intention to co-file a shareholder resolution for inclusion in the companies' proxy ballots.
The development mirrors the College's successful efforts last year to pressure Lockheed Martin to add sexual orientation to its non-discrimination policies. After the College filed a shareholder resolution -- the first in the country solely initiated by a college or university since the anti-apartheid movement in the 1980s -- Lockheed amended its policy.
In the recent action, the two companies adopting the broader policy are Dover Corp., a New York-based manufacturer of industrial products, and Masco Corp., a Taylor, Mich.-based manufacturer of home consumer products. Both companies report billions of dollars in annual sales and have operations throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia.
The resolutions are the work of the College's Committee for Socially Responsible Investing. The six-year-old committee, chaired by Harvard University Business School professor emeritus Samuel L. Hayes '57, includes students, college administrators, and members of Swarthmore's investment committee. In November, the committee began the process to co-file the Dover resolution with Walden Asset Management. Swarthmore was joined by Domini Social Investments and New York City in the proposed Masco resolution, notifying Masco in late December.
"Shareholder activism is a great opportunity to work for social change in a way that reflects the college's values," says Nate Freed Wessler '04, an honors political science major and a member of the committee. "It's a really positive model for changing a company from the inside, and the kind of tactic that is usually not associated with student activists."
To file a resolution, a shareholder must have $2,000 or more invested in the company and must have held it for at least a year. Dover and Masco are only two of the many companies in which Swarthmore holds stock [at $930 million as of June 30, 2003, Swarthmore's endowment was the 37th largest in the country]. Wessler says they were chosen because of the potentially large impact of a policy change at such prominent firms.
"We commend Masco in particular for its responsiveness in engaging in dialogue with Swarthmore," says Vice President and Treasurer Suzanne Welsh. "We congratulate both companies for adopting more inclusive equal employment policies."
For more information, please contact Welsh at 610-328-8316. Located near Philadelphia, Swarthmore is a highly selective liberal arts college whose mission combines academic rigor with social responsibility. Swarthmore, with an enrollment of 1,450, is consistently ranked among the top liberal arts colleges in the country.
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