Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsiblity (ACSR)
Committee Description
The ACSR is comprised of faculty, students and alumni, and is responsible for making recommendations on how the University should vote its shares on social responsibility resolutions. The ACSR's role is advisory; the Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (CCSR), a sub-committee of the President and Fellows, is responsible for voting the University's shares and setting investment policy. However, the advice provided by the ACSR is critical to the CCSR in voting the University's shares on social issues proposals. Disagreement between the two Committees is fairly limited. The ACSR has also played an important role in setting University investment policy. In the past, the ACSR played a major role in developing the University's selective divestment policy with regard to South Africa (which was repealed in 1994, as recommended by the ACSR), and in setting Harvard's policy prohibiting the purchase of stock in tobacco companies.
