In a move unprecedented by any U.S. college or university, the Occidental board of trustees will refrain from investing Occidental’s endowment in companies that manufacture military-style assault rifles. Implemented last January, the decision came as a response to a faculty resolution urging the school to address the string of mass shootings at schools across the country

Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy Peter Dreier and professor of Religious Studies Dale Wright led faculty efforts toward this change, drafting the resolution last year in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown, Conn. The shooting was one in a series of gun-related mass homicides that prompted Dreier and Wright to take action.

“National outrage about gun violence has been building over the last five or six years and began with massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado years ago, and Aurora and lots of other places, and with Sandy Hook killings in Newtown, Conn. it really reached a crescendo,” Dreier said.

The faculty resolution calls for the board to divest all stock holdings in companies that produce “military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines for the purpose of sale and distribution to private citizens.” According to the resolution, continuing to invest in such companies would make the school complicit in the “violence and fear” that the guns cause.

This resolution against assault weapons echoes a letter signed by President Jonathan Veitch in Dec. 2012, calling for a ban on military-style semi-automatic assault weapons. Dreier believes divesting from companies that produce such weapons will ensure that the school upholds values exhibited in the letter, namely the belief that easy access to guns undermines the classroom experience by creating a potentially unsafe environment for students. Other faculty members agreed, with the resolution passing with 85 percent approval last February.

The faculty then presented its resolution to the board last spring, where an investment committee reviewed it. According to Board of Trustees Chair Christopher Calkins ‘67, the committee worked with faculty and the college’s investment advisers to address the issue. In crafting a response, the committee had to consider the board’s fiduciary responsibility to the school and its financial resources.

When the committee presented its final plan to the board, there was unanimous support. In a response to the faculty, Calkins noted that the college does not currently have any investments in assault weapon manufacturing companies and will continue this trend in the future.

According to Dreier, Occidental College is attracting praise as the first school in the country to ban investment in gun manufacturers. Drier noted that he has received commendations from other schools and national organizations pushing for stricter gun laws. Although the school’s endowment is small, Dreier believes the action will spur greater action on the issue of gun violence, which Dreier says is necessary for legislative changes.

“Public opinion alone doesn’t change laws, so taking an action like this is a way to start building a movement and translate public opinion into action” Dreier said.

Dreier is also confident that this action will catalyze a movement among colleges and universities across the country. He likens it to the efforts of academic institutions in the ’80s to divest from companies in South Africa during Apartheid.

“In some ways it’s modeled on the divestment movement of the 1980s when college students and faculty demanded colleges to divest from companies in South Africa. Eventually it gained a lot of momentum and grew and played a huge role in dismantling Apartheid, “ Dreier said.

But according to Calkins, while the board is happy to be able to do something in response to the issue of gun violence, the potential for future divestment is limited.

“There’s an unlimited number of causes, issues, concerns that could be raised, and should be raised, but whether they should be addressed in investment policy is a different question,” Calkins said.

A $1.5 million recent trustee donation will fund a renovation to the campus main entrance to commemorate the 100th year anniversary of Occidental’s relocation to its current campus. The construction, scheduled to be completed this summer, will replace part of the driveway with green space. College planners hope the renovation of the entrance will be a highly visible start of a larger campaign of sustainable landscaping and development with the aim of pedestrianizing the campus.

The new space will be an extension of the hillside around Gilman Fountain and the main steps. The paved area of the driveway above the entrance to the Bell Field parking lot will be replaced with grass. A footpath lined by 40-year-old olive trees and other drought-resistant plants will extend to the fountain, replacing the circle drive and parking spaces

President Jonathan Veitch believes the renovations will provide visitors with a better representation of the campus’s beauty.

“We have an extraordinary campus and we’ve basically turned our entrance into a parking lot,” Veitch said. “You could arrive at Oxy and not know any of the college’s beauty.”

Veitch puts the project in the context of a broad-based effort to develop more sustainable practices and make the campus more accessible to pedestrians through the expansion of green spaces, which reduce runoff and promote water capture.

“This is one of those projects where we put our money where our mouth is in terms of sustainability,” Polansky said.

According to professor of biology Gretchen North, removing an area of asphalt will reduce the amount of water that flows off campus property through the entrance. By increasing the amount of water which is absorbed back into the ground, the college will decrease the strain on the city’s drainage system.

Polansky said the digging of a bioswale, a trench designed to collect rainwater, could reduce levels of silt in runoff.

“The best design marries together tightly sustainability and aesthetics. And I think this does that quite nicely. We should be able to use minimal amounts of irrigation,” Polansky said.

North advised the project during the planning phase and sees it as a step in the right direction.

“I would have liked to see more native plants in the design, but they are often more expensive and harder to establish,” North said. “I was glad to be a part of the thinking and I do believe it represents a new commitment to more sustainable landscaping.”

Future plans include the expansion of lawns and gardens along Bird Road, which will reduce parking spots available on lower campus, and the replacement of water-needy plants with counterparts more suited to the climate.

“Sustainable growth occurs with big projects and incremental process,” Director of Communications James Tranquanda said.