ARTS P. 8 Sawyer becomes gallery for social change
SPORTS P. 12 The Independent Student Newspaper at Williams College Since 1887 VOL. CXXXII, NO. 9
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2017
Football beats Amherst in overtime thriller
Paradise Papers shed light on College, higher education insurance industry By NICHOLAS GOLDROSEN NEWS EDITOR The College is a shareholder in a reinsurance company based out of Bermuda, the recently-leaked Paradise Papers reveal. The documents leaked from the Bermudabased law firm Appleby show that the College owns a stake in School, College and University Underwriters, Ltd. (SCUUL), a reinsurance firm incorporated and registered in Bermuda. The College confirmed its holdings in SCUUL and noted it was a common and legitimate practice for colleges and universities, but did not comment further by press time. This disclosure sheds broader light on the insurance practices of institutions of higher education. SCUUL was founded in 1986 by a consortium of colleges and universities in the midst of a liability crisis which made obtaining insurance difficult. According to the Bermudan government’s Registrar of Companies, the company was first incorporated in 1986 and reincorporated in 2006. A 1986 article covering SCUUL’s founding referred to institutions of higher education founding “their own insurance company,” as it would be run by the schools that used it. As a reinsurance firm, SCUUL takes on parts of other insurers’ portfolios to cover some of their risks. Many of the schools that use SCUUL for reinsurance own shares of it
rather than simply being policyholders. As such, the College’s stake in SCUUL is not part of its investment portfolio. SCUUL is part of a Vermontbased education insurance company known as United Educators (UE), which also has headquarters in Bethesda, Md. According to its website, “United Educators (UE) provides liability insurance and risk management services to nearly 1,600 members representing schools, colleges, and universities throughout the United States. Founded in 1987 as a risk retention group, UE is owned and governed by the educational institutions it insures.” SCUUL was founded as a reinsurer in Bermuda and a holding company in the Cayman Islands. Initially, according to UE Chief Financial Officer Michael Horning, the company had trouble selling policies, as it was not an admitted insurer in the United States. Hence, in March 1987, the same group of 60 schools, including the College, founded UE as a mutual risk retention group in the United States – essentially a group of shareholders sharing each others' risks – which then in turn used SCUUL as its reinsurer. In 2001, the original sponsors decided to have SCUUL pay off the original investments to them as dividends and to use those to recapitalize UE – in essence, to give it a more stable pool of money in the U.S. with which to insure its sponsors. “In 2001, the company restructured,” Horning said.
PHOTO COURTESY OF GOOGLE MAPS
The College is a sponsor and shareholder of United Educators, which includes the Bermuda-based reinsurer School, College and University Underwriters, Ltd., in which the College also owns shares. The Bethesda, Md., headquarters are shown above. “The sponsors wanted an exit strategy, so they basically restructured the whole enterprise, and paid out dividends to the original sponsors – the schools that had put their money where their mouth was and started their own insurance company.” UE then paid off those investments over the next 12 to 14 years; the College’s investment in
the UE recapitalization was paid off in 2014. This move to the United States was abetted by a 1997 Vermont law that allowed mutual risk retention groups to transition to a reciprocal structure. This structure allows the insurer to pay its earnings to the sponsors – i.e., shareholders – as dividends and therefore have no tax liability itself.
The sponsors assumed the tax liability, but as institutions of higher education, they pay no corporate income tax. This practice is entirely in compliance with U.S. law and is common amongst colleges and universities. “Had UE been able to form as a reciprocal in Vermont, it probably would have been initially structured that way instead, and would
not have had to go offshore,” Horning said. The move onshore in 2001 also meant that the UE would no longer pay a federal excise tax for SCUUL’s reinsurance. Since SCUUL, the reinsurer, had purchased reinsurance for itself, UE chose to leave it separately as SCUUL, USA. SEE PARADISE PAPERS, PAGE 5
Faculty express concerns College adopts unified nonover new bookstore discrimination, harassment By WILLIAM NEWTON NEWS EDITOR Since the Williams Bookstore’s opening in August, many students and faculty have expressed concerns over the internal management and trade book section of the store. Currently, the College has a contract with Follett, the campus bookstore chain that previously operated Water Street Books, until 2025, but both parties have the option to exit early with sufficient notice. Though Follett operates the Bookstore, the College intends to play a significant role in overseeing the Bookstore, primarily through the Bookstore Committee, which, according to the College’s website,
“reviews and recommends operating policies and procedures, and provides guidance to both the bookstore and the College on bookstore matters.” In last week’s faculty meeting, the Bookstore Committee and other faculty members expressed concerns about the Bookstore’s reductions in books and Follett’s recent hiring decisions. In particular, the linear shelf space for trade books from the old store was cut in half and the children’s book section was cut by 80 percent. “I think it’s safe to say that all or nearly all of [the Bookstore Committee members] believe the trade books side of the store needs enormous improvement,” said Karen Shepard ’87, chair of
the Bookstore Committee and professor of English. “A great bookstore understands who its customers are and offers an exceptionally wellcurated assortment of books that encourages serendipitous discovery and browsing. Based on these standards, I think I would have to say that the trade section of the new Williams Bookstore, at least, is far from a success.” Follett also told the committee that it would be consulted regarding additional hiring decisions, repeatedly stating over several years that it would hire a full-time trade books manager. Now, Follett indicates that it will not be consulting the committee regarding the decision SEE BOOKSTORE, PAGE 5
PHOTO COURTESY OF WILLIAMS COLLEGE
Faculty discussed their hope to improve the trade book section of the Williams Bookstore last week.
and sexual misconduct policy By NICHOLAS GOLDROSEN NEWS EDITOR At the Nov. 8 faculty meeting, the faculty approved and adopted a new unified non-discrimination, harassment and sexual misconduct policy and unified grievance procedures, by a vote of 46 yes votes, four no votes and two abstentions. The new policy unifies the College’s previous policies against harassment, discrimination and sexual misconduct, and establishes new grievance procedures for grievances against faculty or staff who are alleged to have violated the policy. The revised policy stemmed from the Affirmative Action Advisory Committee’s (AAAC) review of the non-discrimination policy in the 2015-16 year. “In 2015-2016, the AAAC was charged with reviewing and revising the College’s nondiscrimination policies and procedures, something we had not done since the early 1990s outside of sexual misconduct policies and procedures which were revised and updated in 2014-2015,” said Ngonidzashe Munemo, associate dean for institutional diversity and equity and associate professor of political science. “Rather than drafting a second, parallel policy that covered other forms of discrimination, the AAAC decided instead to construct one unified policy that covered all different forms of discrimination, including sexual misconduct.” The decision to create a unified policy reflects current best practice amongst peer institutions, such as Wesleyan and the University of Georgia, the committee’s
motion stated. The unification also stemmed from the recognition that sexual misconduct receives specific attention under federal law as a form of discrimination itself. This policy aims to further the College’s existing effort in creating a work and learning environment free of discrimination, harassment and sexual misconduct. “The AAAC believes that in updating and unifying our existing sexual harassment policy, sexual misconduct investigation and adjudication process, non-discrimination policy and discrimination grievance procedures we have improved upon the policy and procedures that guide our pursuit of a learning and work environment free of discrimination, harassment and sexual misconduct,” the committee’s motion said. In addition to the unification of the policy, the AAAC expanded the revised policy to include harassment that is not necessarily sexual or discriminatory in nature. The motion also established new unified procedures for adjudicating and sanctioning grievances lodged against faculty or staff under the new policy. Critically, these new procedures assign important responsibilities to the assistant vice president for institutional diversity and equity/Title IX coordinator, ensuring that the grievance process is free of conflicts that might arise within offices more familiar with the involved parties, such as human resources or the dean of the faculty. The procedures also create a standing grievance panel of faculty to adjudicate complaints separate from the faculty review panel, which
would sanction faculty found responsible. Finally, they set the evidentiary standard used for all cases arising under the policy as “preponderance of the evidence,” the standard already used in adjudicating grievances involving student respondents and student disciplinary cases. The motion will not change the current procedures used SEE POLICY, PAGE 5
WHAT’S INSIDE 3 OPINIONS Secularism’s role at the College 4 NEWS Williams 101: Faculty Committees 7 FEATURES Mika Brzezinski talks to the ‘Record’ about career in journalism 9 ARTS ‘Jane’ plays at Images Cinema 12 SPORTS Women’s cross country qualifies for NCAAs
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