University investment called 'inhumane'

The Student Labor Action Project submitted a petition on Wednesday asking Penn not reinvest in HEI Hotels and Resorts — a company under fire for alleged unjust labor practices, such as understaffing and forbidding workers from organizing protests.

SLAP delivered its petition — signed by students, faculty and 29 campus groups — to the office of Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli. SLAP has asked for a response from Carnaroli by Feb. 25.

Since fall 2008, SLAP had worked toward getting Penn to withdraw the $14.5 million it has invested in HEI, a company started by Wharton School alumni Gary and Steve Mendell.

This year, however, SLAP has altered its goal and is asking the University to issue a public statement that it will not reinvest in HEI.

Brown University announced last Thursday that it will no longer invest in the hotel chain after extensive student lobbying. Yale University, in response, said it has no plans to do the same, according to the Yale Daily News.

Jonathan Macey, a corporate law professor at Yale Law School and chair of Yale’s Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility said the evidence of HEI’s unethical labor practices was not strong enough to justify universities’ decision not to reinvest.

“Investment decisions should be made on the basis of fact and not on the basis of mere allegations,” Macey wrote in an e-mail.

While Brown’s decision “has no bearing on the operations at Penn,” according to Carnaroli, Penn’s “official position is and needs to continue to be that we recognize the rights of workers to organize.”

HEI is “aware of the movements” on campuses such as Brown and Penn, said Nigel Hurst, the senior vice president for human resources at HEI. He maintained that HEI continues to reassure its investors of its “high employee satisfaction.”

However, students rallying against HEI believe that it is “a company that does not support fair labor standards,” said College senior Nantina Vgontzas, a coordinator for SLAP.

SLAP’s efforts at Penn gained significance this year, Vgontzas said, after Wharton’s San Francisco program renewed its contract with Le Meridien San Francisco — an HEI hotel currently under boycott for its alleged unjust labor practices.

Vgontzas added that it is essential for the University to remove such connections and not “set a standard for other businesses to continue unfair treatment of workers.”

SLAP has “been working harder and reaching out to even more groups” this year, said College senior Rose Espinola, a coordinator for SLAP.

The petition was signed by 45 undergraduates, nine doctoral students and seven faculty members, along with representatives from the 29 student groups, including the Christian Association and Penn for Palestine.

By investing in a company like HEI, “one ends up enabling behavior that puts profits ahead of people,” Robert Gurnee, the executive director of the Christian Association, wrote in an e-mail.

Penn “bears responsibility that the University does not profit from inhumane labor practices,” said College senior Lauren Kapsalakis, who signed the petition.

Political science professor Rogers Smith, who also signed the petition, addressed the conflict between the University’s financial and social obligations.

“Although most universities, like most corporate investors, feel torn between focusing on investments for financial interest and the broader social consequences of those investments,” Smith explained, “in general, we don’t give as much weight to the latter as we should.”

Penn for Palestine also supported SLAP’s call for social justice.

“When we see a cause related to giving people the justice that they deserve or need,” said PFP President Humna Bhojani, a College sophomore, “we’ll support it.”

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