As a generalization, things went excellent at the TC annual meeting. Ray Rogers (Killer Coke campaign) said we hit a double grand slam! We totally dominated discussion (see the attached press advisory to see some of our arguments). We did some praising of TC, for they have started some new initiatives along socially responsible lines (directly or indirectly attributable to our work over the years). But we hit them hard on areas where they need to do more. We had over a dozen folks speaking up about our target companies.  TC officials dully took their notes and expressed their interest, but experience has taught us that we can't go totally on appearances at an annual meeting where they need to be nice one day a year.  SO... we need to keep up the fight. And we had a better crowd outside this year, but still not what we were hoping for-- guessing we were in the 25-30 range all told.

Below is a link to some of  the media coverage surrounding TC's meeting, along with citations not relevant ( http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?p=tiaa-cref&fr=FP-tab-web-t410&toggle=1&ei=UTF-8&fr2=tab-web )

Plus, I was interviewed on the USA Radio Network and it appeared on several hundred of their affiliates. If you know of other coverage, let us all know. As you see, the Coke issue got a lot of coverage and our coalition benefited some from that too..

We were joined this year at the meeting inside and out by folks from national United Students Against Sweatshops (Nike and other labor concerns) and Amnesty International (Chevron). And we have had contact with a few other groups, too. (Over the summer, we are to submit to TIAA-CREF our proposals on why they should do shareholder activism on our target companies.)

THANKS for all your helping on this event and the time leading up to it to call their attention to us, be it emails/calls to TC, conducting demonstrations at local TC offices (we had several), contacting TC trustees, spreading our campaign by posting on academic society websites, and otherwise. We are grateful for our successes, but need to work further and always count on you (see below the basic introductory message to our coalition work). Spread the message and see the listing of ways to get involved. If you can do a couple, please do. Neil

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The nation's largest pension fund, TIAA-CREF, a retirement fund mainly for educators, prides itself on being responsive to shareholders and a "concerned investor" with regard to social responsibility. The reality is that TIAA-CREF holds shares in some of the most controversial and notoriously unethical corporations, including Altria/Philip Morris, responsible for Marlboro-the #1 cigarette brand among youth; Nike and Wal-Mart, widely condemned for their use of sweatshop labor-- and other bad practices for the latter company regarding domestic labor, sprawl, and effects on local economies; Costco, for its warehouse in Cuernavaca, Mexico, which severely damages an archeological site and abuses human rights; Chevron, for supporting the repressive government in Burma. And Coke for human rights and environmental abuses overseas—and advertising to children in the U.S. TIAA-CREF has now sold all its World Bank bonds, which  do harm to many Third World citizens, but it needs to assert that it will not buy any new ones.  Investment in these companies by TIAA-CREF  is inconsistent with their  Policy Statement on Corporate Governance and   advertising tagline of “financial services for the greater good.”