Committee Meeting Minutes
Meeting # 1 - November 12, 2024
The first meeting of the Committee on Socially Responsible Investment & Partnerships took place on November 12, 2024. The agenda included the following items:
- Introductions & Get to know each other
- Committee Overview
- Listening to perspectives
- Listening Sessions
- Upcoming meeting overview
The committee, composed of students, faculty, and staff from across campus started the meeting by introducing themselves and explaining why they were interested in serving on this committee. Common reasons for serving on the committee included balancing the impact of investments/partnerships while aligning our mission and values, balancing pressures from all stakeholders while supporting the educational opportunities at PSU, and ensuring fiscal sustainability for future generations.
The committee reviewed the charge and proposed timeline, including an initial conversation about campus engagement. The committee agreed that having an FAQ document available to the campus community before the listening sessions with some basic background information on partnerships and investments would be beneficial.
The committee also discussed the following:
- History of PSU, including our start as a school for veterans.
- Ability for students to choose scholarships, internships, and other similar opportunities.
- Need for additional education and/or clarification on partnerships, investments and the Portland State University Foundation.
Actions from the first meeting included:
- Create an FAQ that addresses common questions about partnerships, investments, the PSU Foundation.
- Outline the proposed listening session schedule
Meeting # 2- November 26, 2024
The second meeting agenda included:
- Welcome
- Listening Sessions / Draft FAQ Document
- Discussion about the Public University Fund (led by Don Forsythe, Treasurer)
- Discussion about Partnerships (led by Sheila Martin, Chief of Staff and VP of Public Affairs)
- Discussion with President Cudd
- Upcoming meeting overview
The second committee meeting focused on learning about the Public University Fund and Partnerships.
The Public University Fund discussion included the following:
- History of the dissolution of the Oregon University System (OUS) in 2014
- Establishment of the Public University Fund(PUF).
- Oregon Statute ORS_352.450
- Supporting five of the seven public universities
- Oregon State University Public University Fund Investment Policy includes ESG investment guidelines.
- In particular, not investing in the Carbon Underground 200, a decision made with comparative benchmarking to ensure that the performance of the PUF would not be significantly affected by this decision.
- Changes to the PUF require the support of a majority of these universities.
- Investment principles, many of which fall under the Oregon Investment Council.
The committee discussed partnerships on campus. Discussions included:
- Commitment to engagement and partnerships is key to PSU.
- PSU is part of the Urban Serving Universities Coalition which requires us to demonstrate that we are a resource for the community and there are benefits attached to this.
- PSU is working to develop a partnership spectrum to outline the depth of the partnership.
- PSU is classified under the Carnegie Classification in Community Engagement.
President Cudd also joined the committee as she was not able to attend the first meeting. The committee was officially asked to fulfill the responsibilities outlined in the Charge. Discussions with the committee included the timeline for the report (due in February), concerns about the ability to fully engage the campus, and the next steps once the report is complete. President Cudd committed to hearing regular updates from Dean Halverson who is chairing the committee as the work of this committee, especially as the community feedback is being gathered and the report is being drafted.
The committee also discussed the listening sessions and future meetings. The committee agreed that the listening session should be moved to the second week of the Winter term to allow the campus to fully engage in the process. Given this change in the timeline, there was also discussion about misconceptions on campus around the PSU Foundation, investments, and/or partnerships and how the FAQ could be an educational resource. The FAQ document and infographics are being prepared ahead of the listening sessions, which will take place in the Winter term.
Actions from the second meeting included:
- Create an FAQ that includes infographics or alternative presentation methods.
- Share the FAQ ahead of the listening sessions to help frame conversations.
Meeting #3 - December 9, 2024
The third meeting agenda included:
- Discussion with the Portland State University Foundation
- Upcoming meeting overview
- Review of other university models
- Preparation for listening sessions includes:
- FAQ
- Social Media Graphics
- Questions for the Survey
Sarah Schwarz and Stacey Henriquez from the Portland State University Foundation joined the committee to share details related to the Foundation and the endowment. It is worth noting that the primary responsibility of the Foundation is to support PSU. The discussion included background information on the age and size of the Foundation, highlighting that, compared to many other institutions, it is quite young and small. The Foundation also has an alumni association, representing the connection to PSU's alumni base. For further details on what was discussed at this meeting, we encourage you to review the accessible background information document with a section on the Foundation.
Actions from the second meeting included:
- Reviewing the draft FAQ document, which will be available as a Slide Deck (Canva) and an accessible Google Document.
- Review of the proposed survey questions.
- Share the FAQ ahead of the listening sessions to help frame conversations.
- Review of the models from other universities.
Meeting #4 January 8, 2025
This committee meeting focused on finalizing materials for the upcoming listening session week. The committee reviewed and edited the FAQ both as a Canva presentation and as an accessible Google Slide Deck, survey questions, an additional resource document to be shared with the campus community, and the tabling session calendar, along with participation from the committee members.
The committee also discussed the outreach campaign intended to encourage participation from the campus community.
Meeting #5 January 22, 2025
The agenda for this meeting included:
- Welcome
- Listening Session Results
- Survey Responses
- Views on the Background Slide Deck
- Views on the Accessible Google document
- Open rates from the Virtual Viking and the Currently
- Report Outline
- Action Items for Next Week
- Review of other university models
- Survey Analysis
At this meeting, the committee reviewed the survey results and discussed the outreach week. Notably, it seemed that the campus community misunderstood the survey's purpose because it did not directly include up-to-date information about partnerships and investments. The committee also explored alternative approaches to gather additional feedback, such as a town hall or a panel of committee members to collect public comments. Some committee members recognized that no option would create a space that guaranteed everyone's participation.
The committee meeting ended with a reminder to review and explore options from other universities that would be used in the report for President Cudd.
Meeting #6 February 3, 2025
- Welcome
- Listening Session Results
- Survey Results
- Analysis of comments
The committee received an update about the student listening session hosted by ASPSU, where five students participated. The comments were shared with the committee.
The committee discussed requesting an extension on the report to gather more engagement. However, they agreed to proceed with the February 28 deadline; our report will acknowledge Boeing, which is a key issue for our students.
The committee meeting concluded with a discussion about the report outline and the next steps, which included scheduling additional review meetings.
Meeting #7 - February 11, 2025 and February 12, 2025
The committee met twice this week to accommodate schedules. The main focus was reviewing the draft report. During the meeting, a request was made to reopen the survey to gather additional feedback from students. The committee agreed to reopen the survey but noted that there would be a limited time frame to review the results.
The survey was reopened from February 17 to February 24. Some minor adjustments, including transitioning the survey to Qualtrics, were made to address some of the original critiques regarding the use of Google Forms. The questions remained largely the same; however, there is improved functionality for ranking questions in Qualtrics.
The committee discussed the draft report with a primary focus on the “models” that can be used to define how PSU approaches investment and partnerships.
Meeting # 8 February 20, 2025
The committee reviewed the results from the survey that reopened on February 17. Although the survey was set to remain open until February 24, the committee could conduct an initial review to assess any additional information from the results or to determine if there was a spike in participation.
The committee continued to review the draft report and consider the proposed recommendations.
Meeting # 9 February 27, 2025
The committee met over Zoom for a final meeting to review the draft report. Key discussions related to working through the proposed recommendations and the survey analysis.