Second "official" TIAA-CREF (TC) Coalition Update --mainly for TC participants with an interest in social responsibility by TC

Neil Wollman, Senior Fellow, Peace Studies Institute; Professor of Psychology; Manchester College, N. Manchester, IN 46962; 260-982-5346; fax 260-982-5043; njw@manchester.edu

Thanks for your continued interest in the actions of the coalition to promote social responsibility within TIAA-CREF (TIAA-CREF: Out of the Bad and Into the Good). With the size and prominence of TIAA-CREF (TC), if they take an action, it can influence other large institutional investors-- many billions of dollars and all the social ramifications of big money. Before filling you in on coalition activities of late, let us repeat again the ways that you can become involved, individually, in the work of the coalition. 1. Take a look at the web site to learn more about the work at the coalition lobbying TC (WWW.MAKETIAA-CREFETHICAL.ORG). 2. Call (much preferred) or email TC about the overall goals of the coalition or specific demands (e.g., divestment from Nike) Call CEO Herbert Allison at 800-842-2733; 212-490-9000 (ask for him and leave a message with his assistant). HAllison@TIAA-CREF.org 3. Pass along the below coalition introductory message to colleagues at your school and around the country, appropriate listservs, organizations, web sites, etc. -- with a brief endorsement from yourself. We are relying on you all to spread the word! In the last month we have done a "guerilla" fliering in Amsterdam, following them all the way to Europe! As we have done before, this involves handing out fliers to participants at events at which there is a TC speaker or some other TC presence. We have also held small demonstrations at local TC offices in Chicago and Boston-- and more are planned. Additionally, though there have been no stories thus far, we hope to have some media stories soon, as we have been making various contacts. We have gotten considerable coverage ion the past, particularly surrounding TC's annual meeting..As we noted before, we have been involved in these more confrontational tactics only after years of talking and then resistance on their part--and finding some level of success by being more assertive. And we are always ready for dialogue. Our individual coalition members have been doing some activities on their own (for example, "Social Choice for Social Change" has lined up over ten folks who will be reaching out to individual TIAA-CREF trustees, asking TC to invest in particularly responsible ventures, like low-income housing, and companies producing products promoting environmental and social responsibility.Also, we can report that after lobbying TC, they have divested of all its World Bank Bonds (the lobbying group is our coalition member the World Bank Bonds Boycott). It is hard to say for sure and TC claims otherwise, but we suspect that our efforts had some influence. And we have added a new member to the Coalition, The Citizens Coalition (see the below brief description; we hope to soon get up info on the web site concerning them). Talk to you in a month or so. For now, know that we are leading up toward TC's annual meeting in NYC November 13, so anything you can do between now and then would be great. And if you have any questions, let us know. Neil

"The Citizens Coalition (see www.procasino.org) is made up of individuals interested in preserving the environment, the correct regulation of urban development and the culture. We are based in Cuernavaca, Mexico, where we have been faced wit the need to protest against the construction of giant warehouses on a historic site called the "Casino de la Selva". The project has caused the deliberate destruction of murals representing the culture of the XXth century in Mexico as well as damage to a 3000 year old Olmec archeological site along with nearly 2 million cubic meters of badly needed biotic space beside the center of the city. Parents, professors, painters, leaders of the community, students and academics were sent to jail for opposing the project on the 21st of August of last year. At this point we have 150 organizations from Mexico and other parts of the world demanding a reparation of all the damages to our community. We believe that stockholders of pension funds such as TIAA-CREF can influence the company executives of diverse corporations to act ethically. In particular, we are more than willing to unite with organizations such as yours in order to have Costco cancel its very detrimental project and choose a more adequate site for its store in Mexico."-

Subject: TIAA-CREF and socially responsible investment Dear : We are writing because you either have had some interest regarding TIAA-CREF(TC) and socially responsible investing or you have a general interest in corporate responsibility. Otherwise, we are sorry. Beyond your particular TC concerns, we write to tell you about a coalition of national advocacy groups that have been working to get TC to be more socially conscious in their investments (areas of concern are sweatshop labor, tobacco, World Bank Bonds, and human rights regarding Burma and Tibet). We also want them to invest in social good (low-income area community development and products enhancing environmental sustainability, e.g.). Beyond better directing of TC's own massive assets ($260 billion), because of its prominence in the investment world, changes TC makes will likely affect other large institutional investors. The coalition has carried out traditional lobbying (calls and emails) to influence TC as well as protest actions when needed to gain attention. While we can point to a few victories, coalition members feel that we would have far more influence if we could communicate with TC shareholders to provide periodic updates on campaign activities, as well as giving ways that folks like you can become involved at some small or large level. Certainly there will be no more than one report a month. Please consider signing up for updates (write NJW@manchester.edu & put "TC Coalition Update" in the subject line). Also, please do forward this message to individual colleagues and listservs which are concerned with the corporate responsibility movement and which might have participants in the TC pension system. And check out www.maketiaa-crefethical.org, the coalition listserv. Thank you, Neil Wollman, Ph.D. Senior Fellow and Professor, Manchester College for "TIAA-CREF: Out of the Bad and into the Good" (Free Burma Coalition, Infact, Press for Change, World Bank Bonds Boycott, US Tibet Committee, Students for a Free Tibet, International Tibet independence Movement, Global sweatshop Coalition, The Citizens Coalition, and Social Choice for Social Change: Campaign for a new TIAA-CREF)