The advisory committee’s votes supported the ILO standards for all seven companies, but the CCSR only voted for the proposal in three cases. The committee abstained on the remaining four, citing “ACSR’s very narrow margin of support” and a precedent of no-votes from both committees.

Concerns over alleged human rights violations by American companies overseas came to a head in a number of shareholder proposals with which the two committees grappled.

The ACSR threw unanimous support behind a proposal that oil giant ExxonMobil “review its policies related to human rights,” and the CCSR followed suit with a vote in favor of the measure.

But the Corporation committee abstained on other human rights proposals submitted to Coca-Cola, AOL Time Warner and Boeing, in light of split votes on the ACSR.

Voting in Shares

Harvard’s significant stock holdings—in companies from consumer products manufacturer Avon to aerospace firm Lockheed Martin—entitle the University to powerful votes on a wide range of proxy issues which set financial and social policy within corporations.

The CCSR consists of Corporation members Conrad K. Harper, James R. Houghton ’58 and D. Ronald Daniel, who is also the University treasurer.

“Personally, I think it would make more sense to have it operating as a joint committee” between the Corporation and the advisers, said Emma S. Mackinnon ’05, one of four students and the only undergraduate on the ACSR.

The Corporation committee, which was formed following cries for divestment from companies conducting business with the Apartheid government of South Africa, has continued to play an important role in shaping the University’s stance on investing in politically contentious stocks.

Over the past 15 years, the CCSR has moved to completely divest Harvard of its shares in tobacco companies and prohibit future purchases of tobacco stock.

While the city councils of Boston and Cambridge voted last spring to impose smoking bans at local bars and restaurants, the CCSR cast its vote in favor of a similar smoking ban at the restaurant chains of Yum! Brands, which include KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.

Taco Bell was also the subject of another proposal, in response to concerns over the Mexican fast-food restaurant’s Florida tomato pickers, who have objected to the company’s labor practices. The committee abstained on the measure, which would have required Yum! Brands to prepare a report on the company’s social, economic and environmental practices.

The CCSR and ACSR both agreed to support proposals at Dover, J.C. Penney, ExxonMobil and Centerpoint Energy adding the category of sexual orientation to the non-discrimination policies of those companies.

Similarly, the two committees agreed on their opposition to a shareholder proposal at Coca-Cola to remove sexual orientation from the company’s equal employment policies and “cease support of homosexual lifestyle and other deviant lifestyle behaviors opposed by the majority of the people.”

Also at Coca-Cola, the CCSR agreed—after a unanimous ACSR vote—to oppose a measure to withdraw company support for National Public Radio in light of the station’s allegedly biased coverage of the Middle East.

The Corporation committee also opposed a shareholder proposal at J.P. Morgan to “refrain from making charitable contributions.”