Is U. of California Following Its Proxy Guidelines?

The University of California is routinely ignoring its own policies on proxy votes involving stocks in its endowment, according to an investigation by Bay Citizen, a nonprofit journalism organization whose work appears in The New York Times. The university's rules require a case-by-case analysis on proxy measures involving social issues, but the analysis found that the university appears to routinely vote against measures that would seem to require such an analysis -- without evidence of a study having taken place. Melvin Stanton, the university’s associate chief investment officer, told the Bay Citizen: "Our focus is doing what is best to improve the financial wherewithal of a particular company,” adding that "we’re not really focusing on social issues.”