Members of the Student Environmental Council (SEC) kicked off a campaign Thursday to petition the state Board of Regents to divest Iowa State’s stock holdings in four companies that they claim are not eco-friendly.

SEC Co-President Katie Theisen said the student-activists are collecting signatures to petition the Board of Regents to allow Iowa State to end its investments with companies that are members of the Global Climate Coalition (GCC): Exxon/Mobil, General Motors, TECO Energy and Norfolk Southern Energy Corporation.

Theisen, junior in environmental science, said the students think the GCC is ignoring global warming.

“They are saying global warming is not an issue so they don’t have to change their practices,” she said.

Theisen said global warming is one of the most important problems facing students.

“Global warming is an issue that affects us all,” she said, noting that experts have hypothesized the alleged warming might affect the spread of bacteria, plant growth and sea levels.

To promote the petition, five members of the SEC protested on campus Thursday from noon to 2 p.m. between Parks Library and the Campanile.

The students dressed up in costumes to symbolize the Earth, Iowa State and the four companies in question, and they acted out a scene which was meant to represent a divestment of Iowa State’s holdings in the four companies.

Angela Sokolowski, junior in animal ecology, was decked out in a red and yellow jester suit meant to represent the university. Zach Herrnstadt, freshman in English, Denny Lange, junior in marketing, and Rachel Hein, senior in graphic design, wore suits to play the parts of the companies. Shelly Higdon, senior in environmental science, wore a lumpy gray sack adorned with green-felt continents, meant to represent the Earth.

Sokolowski said student reaction to the protest was mixed.

“We’re getting a lot of looks because it’s not the type of thing people see every day,” Sokolowski said.

As of Thursday afternoon, Theisen said the 30 members of the SEC who were helping with the petition campaign had collected more than 200 signatures. She said the group’s goal was to obtain 2,000 signatures by Earth Day, March 22.

Theisen said no one from the SEC had made contact with any ISU administrators or state regents, but they expect a response from them soon.

Warren Madden, vice president for Business and Finance, said he had not heard anything about the petition until Thursday, but he would be willing to meet with the students to discuss their concerns.

“They’ve made no contact with our office or with me to talk about these issues or the university’s investments,” Madden said. “We would be more than willing to sit down and talk about their issues.”

Madden said the university’s investment portfolio is controlled by the Board of Regents.

“The university operates under a set of investment policies adopted by the Board of Regents. If they feel those need to be changed, they’ll need to talk to the board,” he said.

Madden said the board has not historically considered social issues when setting investment policy, except in the early 1980s when Iowa legislators set certain guidelines for investing in companies with ties to South Africa.

Theisen said other states’ Boards of Regents have already divested all holdings with GCC-afilliated companies, including the Washington Board of Regents.

“Being the first land-grant university to divest from GCC companies would say a lot. That means we’d be standing behind our students who care about global warming and our professors who are doing research on global warming,” she said.

Madden said the ISU administration had no say in deciding the companies in which the university invests.

“We don’t make decisions at the campus level,” he said.

That authority is left to finance managers, Madden said, and they are given free reign to invest Iowa State’s public endowment as they see fit.

“They aren’t given directions to sell or not sell any specific securities,” he said. “The impact of this is if you restrict the ability of the fund managers to manage the portfolios, it will probably reduce the returns.”

Madden also noted Iowa State only invests endowments and gifts, not tuition money. He said the majority of the money gained through those investments goes to student scholarships.

And though he said the Board of Regents rarely considers social issues when setting investment policy, Madden said the board would be open to the SEC’s requests.

“I think they will certainly listen; the board is always willing to listen to students,” he said.

But before that happens, Madden said the SEC should concentrate on getting its message out.

“I think the students that are raising these issues have a job to educate the campus about them,” he said, “and to my knowledge, they haven’t started doing that yet at a campus level.”