ASWU to vote on endowment divestment plan — with new parameters

House in Willamette colors with a sign in front saying "ASWU endowment for sale." Art by Eli Fukuji.

Disclaimers: The Collegian receives most of its funding from ASWU. Additionally, Amelia Hare holds a position in the SEAL office, which reports to Lisa Holliday, advisor of ASWU.

A previous version of this article characterized the endowment proposal as including the movement of funds to a savings account, and added that the endowment would be "controlled" by the board of trustees. After release, Lisa Landreman further articulated that the proposal seeks to move endowment funds to a general ledger (GL) account, not a savings account. Furthermore, while the GL account would be kept as university funds, decisions regarding its expenditure specifically would lie with ASWU.

ASWU will vote on Thursday, Oct. 2 on the issue of separating their $400,000 endowment from the university endowment. Again.

Even though the Associated Students of Willamette University (ASWU) voted unanimously in April of 2025 to divest the ASWU endowment from the larger Willamette endowment, they must first get approval from the Willamette University board of trustees. And, according to Vice President of Student Affairs Lisa Landreman, reinvesting the endowment under the care of ASWU itself, which the senate hoped to do, is not on the table.

Students have called for university divestment before during the 1980s in regards to the South African apartheid system and entities invested in it. But for ASWU, the prospect of pulling their endowment is uncertain. 

The ASWU endowment task force, which recommended a vote in favor of divestment in spring of 2025, convened in the wake of student-led protests of the university’s potential investment in the arms industry. The protests were specifically concerned with the Israeli government’s actions in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The task force was composed of students, student senators, and ASWU executive members to analyze the use of the endowment money for students.

Under the advice of University Controller Scott Schaefer and Associate Vice President for Budget and Resource Planning Laura Taylor, the student-led endowment task force researched and weighed two options for the future of the endowment last year. Either leave it in the care of the university and Global Endowment Management (GEM), or identify another investment fund aligned with ASWU’s divestment goals. Approximately 2.5% of the ASWU endowment is invested alongside the university endowment, per ASWU bylaws.

However, since the divestment vote, Landreman has articulated that there are only two legitimate options for the ASWU endowment going forward. Either ASWU must leave the endowment in the care of the board of trustees and GEM, or they must move it to a university general ledger account not designed for investment. ASWU will vote on whether or not to present the former option to the board.

The board of trustees meets three times per year, with an upcoming meeting in late October. One of the responsibilities of the board of trustees is to oversee the management of the endowment and its investments. Specifically, the endowment committee, a subsection of the board, is the committee that is in charge of the endowment and is the committee ASWU seeks approval from to get access and control over their endowment. 

According to Landreman, ASWU plans to vote during their Oct. 2 senate meeting on options to proceed with ASWU endowment divestment. If they choose to proceed with seeking divestment from the board of trustees, Landreman explained that ASWU President Stevie Bergstrom (’26) would make a formal request to Anne Gallagher, vice president of finance and chief financial officer for the university, who would then act as a liaison between ASWU and the board of trustees’ endowment committee. 

Bergstrom emphasized the enormity and uncertainty of this process: “This is very uncharted territory,” she said. 

The ASWU executive team’s “primary focus is just getting that money,” ASWU Treasurer Mitch Septoff (’26) claimed. While that money cannot be reinvested with an outside investor. According to Landreman, it would mean that ASWU’s endowment would no longer be invested in GEM. 

Landreman elaborated on why the ASWU endowment wouldn't be able to reinvest elsewhere if they were to divest from the university. She noted that the ASWU endowment is a university fund created and supplemented by university-administered student fees, meaning that any investment is the responsibility of the university. Additionally, given the cyclical nature of student leadership and how interests and priorities change between ASWU administrations, the university does not want to put the future long-term investment management of the ASWU endowment “on the backs of students.” 

However, Landreman expressed that if ASWU were to divest their endowment, there are opportunities that ASWU can explore with the expanded access to the funds no longer invested to continue to directly impact the current needs of student clubs and organizations. “So I think there’s a real benefit, if that’s the path that ASWU chooses,” she said. 

Throughout the process, ASWU has sought to prioritize student input and awareness. In addition to student involvement in the task force, ASWU hosted a town hall event in March of 2025 to allow for further student feedback. In his role, Septoff has emphasized student voices throughout the divestment process. “What got us this far was student engagement and passion for this project in the first place,” he said.

In attempts to provide further transparency on the divestment process, Septoff and Katelyn Beissel Rosales (’28), ASWU director of communication, have launched an endowment website, where students can learn the most recent information regarding ASWU’s work on the endowment. Septoff is also hosting weekly town hall meetings during the hour before ASWU senate meetings, which is dedicated to the endowment and student comments or concerns.

Both Bergstrom and Septoff are aware of how important students are in this process and are hoping to communicate more often with the student body. “We want to see this project being completed and not pushed aside,” Bergstrom said. "We're pretty protective over this, also just because it's something that is important to the students." 

The Thursday, Oct. 2 ASWU Senate meeting will take place in Montag Den from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.