The Advisory Panel on Investment Responsibility held a town hall meeting last night to inform the Stanford community about their role in the University’s investment policies. Subcommittees on diversity, sustainability, human rights and labor presented overviews of their issues and goals for the upcoming year.

The panel comprises undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, alumni and senior administrators. Together, they review shareholder resolutions, monitor companies and advise the University’s Board of Trustees on important social and ethical issues.

Internet access and privacy has become one of the most important issues for the panel this year.

“Since the Beijing summer Olympics last year, we have noticed an increase in shareholder resolution concerning Internet access,” said Linda Kimball, manager of Investment Responsibility.

Panel intern Xochitl Watts ’12 also reported on concerns about censorship and confidentiality since the recent cyber attack on Google that originated in China. One of the hacked Google accounts belonged to a Stanford student, Tenzin Seldon ’12.

In response to these concerns, the panel members said they will carefully monitor shareholder resolutions concerning Internet confidentiality and update their proxy voting guidelines accordingly.

However, Stanford does not initiate or sponsor resolutions, and the panel only considers advising divestment when a company does not respond to shareholder resolutions.

“I know the process sounds slow to students who are only here for four years,” Kimball said. “But that’s the way things are. And in the end, down the road, things will change.”

— Caroline Chen