College students from as far away as Colorado and Wisconsin will meet at Cornell University Oct. 23 to 25 to discuss socially responsible investing.

Sponsored by the New York Student Environmental Action Coalition and the Cornell Greens, the conference will include 16 workshops on topics ranging from researching investment portfolios to divestment to anti-tobacco campaigns, as well as planning sessions and a town meeting.

Thomas Hirschl, associate professor of rural sociology at Cornell, will present the keynote address about socially responsible investing and how it applies to campuses around the country on Friday, Oct. 23 in Room 165 McGraw Hall at 7 p.m.

A series of workshops will be held Saturday, Oct. 24. Speakers include students Joseph Frances and Matteo Burani from the University of Vermont, discussing their activities on that campus; Htun Aung Gyaw of Cornell on the Free-Burma movement; Anke Wessels, director of the Center for Religion, Ethics, and Social Policy at Cornell, on capitalism and socially responsible investing; Bonnie Vierthaler, artist and activist, on art that speaks against tobacco companies; and several financial planners who specialize in socially responsible investing.

Students will hold a town meeting on Oct. 24 at 3:15 p.m. in the Hollis E. Cornell auditorium at Goldwin Smith Hall.

The conference will conclude with a planning meeting beginning 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 25 in the Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium in Goldwin Smith Hall. Among topics will be a national day of action planned for campuses across the country on Nov. 12.

Jonah Zern, a senior student at Cornell majoring in natural resources and spokesperson for the Cornell Greens, said this conference will be the first national student conference addressing the issue of how universities can affect corporate actions through their investment policies. Zern can be reached at (607) 275-9327 for more information.