Several student organizations at Vanderbilt University are raising questions about Vanderbilt’s investment decisions.

Vanderbilt  University does not directly invest in stocks or companies and instead invests using fund managers according to a statement released by Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs Beth Fortune.  However, HEI Hotels and Resorts—the seventh largest hospitality investment and operating business in the United States—used the Vanderbilt logo at a 2006 presentation at Cornell University.

Students are hoping to use that relationship to demand HEI to treat their workers better.  Though the student organizers are not calling on the University to divest from HEI as some similar efforts have done, they are asking the University to use its power as an investor to call on HEI to reform.

HEI is accused of overworking, underpaying, and intimidating employees, according to a statement released by former and current HEI employees. University students across the country have protested against HEI, calling for divestments in the company.

In addition, the Office of the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against HEI in October 2009, citing that the HEI-owned Sheraton in Arlington, Va., was engaging in unlawful intimidation and coercion of their workers.

HEI featured the Vanderbilt logo in the second of three funds it manages, which consists of university endowments from schools including Harvard, Yale, and Brown. The logo was associated with a $425,000,000 discretionary private equity fund for acquiring and developing hospitality-related assets.

"HEI workers are exercising their right to protest …and HEI management has repeatedly acted with disregard for the values of Vanderbilt and the laws of this country,” said junior Benjamin Eagles, president of Vanderbilt Students of Nonviolence. “We are not calling for divestment. Rather we want Vanderbilt to leverage our power as an investor to reform the inhumane practices of HEI Hotels.”

Fortune says the University did its research on HEI before making any financial decisions.

“We seek to gain an intimate knowledge of their organizational structure, ownership, investment philosophy, investment process and operational procedures to ensure they engage in best practices, embrace diversity, adhere to social norms of justice and fair dealing and earn competitive returns,” Fortune said.

Vanderbilt has not commented on any future investment plans with HEI.

The story at Vanderbilt comes on the heels of a historic divestment bill passed by the student government at the University of California at Berkeley. The bill demanded that the University remove all holdings in two companies that produce materials for the Israeli army, citing Israel’s human rights violations of Palestinians.

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