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In June 2024, Queen’s formed a Responsible Investing Review Committee under its Responsible Investing Policy to consider a special request submitted by a campus group. The group’s submission asks the university to divest its pooled endowment and investment funds from companies conducting business in or with the State of Israel, and to put in place a screening process for future investments.

As a key part of its special request review, the committee is organizing a period for public consultation, during which community members with interest or expertise are invited to submit perspectives that may help inform the committee’s deliberations.

The committee is particularly interested in hearing views on the following questions:

1.    Should the university divest its pooled endowment and investment funds from companies conducting business in or with the State of Israel?

2.    Should the university adopt a screening process that would potentially preclude future investments based on their business in or with the State of Israel?

The period of consultation is set to begin August 6. The committee will consider both written submissions and requests for an opportunity to make in-person presentations. Written submissions will be accepted until September 30, and the deadline to apply for in-person presentations is September 15, with the presentations set to be held in October. All submissions will be reviewed and considered carefully, and they will be kept confidential. No anonymous submissions will be considered.

“Queen’s is dedicated to an open and transparent process in reviewing this special request, ensuring all viewpoints are considered, as is required under our Responsible Investing Policy,” says Jim Leech, Queen’s Chancellor Emeritus and Chair of the committee. “We look forward to reviewing the input we receive through this consultation process. Hearing from our community will be an important element of our committee’s work.”

Feedback submitted through the consultation is one of several factors the review committee will consider when reviewing the special request, as outlined in the Responsible Investing Policy’s Special Requests Procedure.

As detailed in the policy, the committee will look at the special request’s consistency with existing university policies or objectives, assess how feasible it is to address the issues raised, and determine the materiality of the request to the overall investment portfolios. Additionally, it will check if the request repeats past ones or if changes warrant a new look at past requests and consider if other methods available to the university can better handle the issue.

To support the work of the review committee, Queen’s has launched a dedicated webpage that includes the webforms for written and in-person submissions, along with more information on the consultation process, the terms of reference, membership, and timelines.