A Message from Board Chair Donald P. Gould – 9/30/2024

September 30, 2024

Dear Pitzer Community,

I write to follow up on previous communications about Pitzer’s endowment. 

Pitzer College is a leader in responsible investing. Consistent with Pitzer’s core values, the College was among the first, and is still one of the few institutions in higher education, to have moved to a stock portfolio managed according to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria. This initiative has meaningfully changed the Pitzer endowment over the past ten years, including the full elimination of fossil fuels, tobacco, and controversial weapons stocks from our portfolio.

In true Pitzer fashion, this evolution of the endowment was spurred in part by the initiative and ideas of Pitzer students, faculty, and others. The Board of Trustees, as the body responsible for the management of the endowment, appreciates and carefully considers such community input.

In April 2024, a group of students presented the Board of Trustees with a list of requests, including some related to the Pitzer endowment. In response to the students’ requests, my May 2024 letter to the community outlined Pitzer’s leadership in responsible investing and the Board’s approach to divestment. The Board also committed to make disclosures about the endowment’s holdings in the stocks of military and weapons manufacturers, which were shared with the community in my June message.

Since then, the Board has considered the further endowment disclosures it will make on an ongoing basis, and I’m pleased to preview our direction today. To that end, the Board of Trustees has decided to establish a page on the Pitzer website devoted to informing our community about the College endowment. We aim to launch the web page in the spring semester.

The new site will include:

• The endowment’s value and broad asset allocation, with annual updates shortly after each June 30 fiscal year-end
• The history of the Pitzer endowment – how it was formed and has since grown
• The purpose and long-term design of the endowment in supporting all aspects of the College’s operations
• How the Board oversees management of the endowment, including investment policy
• Details on how responsible investing is implemented, including the endowment’s application of ESG principles

Our goal is to provide greater transparency and to build, across the entire community, a deeper understanding of the endowment, the critical role it plays in the College’s educational mission now and in perpetuity, and the ways we manage it to achieve those goals. We are grateful for the engagement of the Pitzer community on this important topic and look forward to sharing more via the webpage in the months ahead, and beyond.

Sincerely,

Donald P. Gould
Chair, Pitzer College Board of Trustees