“We wouldn’t be doing the work of student government if we didn’t try to find solutions and make progress on some of the major issues that students are raising on campus,” Parker said. spoke.
Hizra Ahmad, a committee member and executive assistant to the executive manager, said the committee does not have decision-making authority regarding the university’s investment management. Instead, she said, its primary purpose is to create a more open dialogue between students and administrators about how universities manage investment and endowment funds.
“You can’t have productive conversations about change without a basic understanding,” Ahmad said.
So the committee’s first meeting included hearing from Mr. King about UNCMC, which manages the UNC Investment Fund and the UNC-Chapel Hill Foundation Investment Fund.
UNCIF, the investment fund for the UNC System, is currently valued at $11.1 billion, while CHIF, the dedicated fund for UNC-CH, is valued at $5.6 billion, according to a Sept. 18 presentation to the UNCMC Board of Directors. It is evaluated as.
“I see my role as providing information and being kind of a resource to the committee,” King said.
He said this role would help clear up misconceptions about UNCMC’s activities.
King said most people don’t understand what their endowment is made up of and how it’s invested. The endowment, which is part of CHIF, is valued at $2.4 billion, according to a UNCMC presentation. It’s a combination of several different funds from donors to support specific programs, King said. No tuition or state expenditures are invested in the endowment.
“This is a very specific subset of the university’s financial resources,” King said.
Williams said the committee’s job is to share information from committee meetings with the student body to help students better understand these nuances.
He said the executive branch is currently working on scheduling the next committee meeting.
As secretary, Williams is also considering other ways to communicate the committee’s results to students, including possible newsletters and surveys.
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“It’s an important platform for us to take the concerns that are clearly being heard across campus and to be able to voice those concerns to the individuals who are managing specific matters,” Williams said.
The Investment Advisory Committee is the first of its kind in USG’s history, Ahmad said. But this is not the first time investment management has been discussed on campus.
“We must look back at UNC’s history and recognize that the theme of UNC investment has been questioned many times,” she said.
In 1987, UNC-CH officially withdrew from South African business after almost a decade of student protests due to South Africa’s apartheid system. Parker said students have recently called for more transparency in investments surrounding environmental justice issues.
Although the investment advisory committee is still relatively new, Parker said he sees it as a starting point to start a conversation about investing in universities. His goal is to eventually expand the committee to external appointments and allow any student to apply to serve on the committee, instead of the current committee, which is selected only by the executive. He said that it should be done.
“I really hope this investment advisory committee is a step in the right direction,” Parker said. “But it’s not the only step, and it’s not the biggest step.”
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