Growing trend of Ivy League universities end reinvestments in HEI

Most of HEI Hospitality’s anchor investors have announced they will not reinvest in the private equity hotelier. These aren’t your run of the mill investors, but the likes of Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Brown universities which command billions of dollars in their endowments.  More and more major higher education institutional investors are shutting their doors to HEI Hospitality. Click the university statements to the right to learn more.

Mar. 2013 – Learn how HEI’s asset management, growth and liquidation strategies have the potential of generating less-than-optimal results and compromising the research and educational goals of university investors.

Mission Valley (March 1, 2013) – Twenty hotel workers were arrested on March 1 at the HEI-owned and managed Hilton Mission Valley.  Nearly 250 hotel workers, community activists and clergy members protested job insecurity at the hotel. HEI has announced that it is selling the Hilton Mission Valley to Tarsadia Investments.  HEI informed workers of the potential of mass layoffs when Tarsadia takes over later this  month. Please urge Tarsadia to retain the workers at the Hilton Mission Valley by signing this petition. More layoffs are bad for San Diego and bad for California. Click here to see more photos of the action.

Jan. 2013 – If you are considering partnering with HEI, we strongly caution you to conduct the necessary due diligence to ensure your business decisions are based on facts on the ground, instead of HEI’s rhetoric. Is HEI really worth all the trouble?

In an article titled “Students Contest Notre Dame Investment in Hotel Group,” in the January 4, 2013 issue of the National Catholic Reporter, the University of Notre Dame’s Chief Investment Officer, Scott Malpass states, “At this time, we have no plans to add additional capital to any new funds raised by HEI.” Mr. Malpass’ statement follows statements by other elite universities that have decided to not invest or reinvest in private equity hotelier, HEI Hospitality, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Brown. This statement is a victory for all those students, university staff and faculty, religious leaders and community members who have dedicated their efforts to speaking truth to power by shining a light on the injustices of HEI’s inhumane treatment of its workers.

Professor Gerald Beyer headlined the Higgins Labor Studies Program’s November 14 event “Prophets and Profits: Catholic Social Teaching on Workers’ Rights and Socially Responsible Investing, a Case Study of HEI Hotel Workers.” Beyer presented original research about HEI Hotels’ treatment of workers, finding grave violations of Catholic social teaching (CST) as understood through the Bible, papal encyclicals and statements, and documents from the Second Vatican Council.

“Both of my knees are injured and I don’t have time for church or family anymore. I check between 50 and 100 rooms every day, get written up if I can’t finish, and then am given more work,” Luz  Olivas, an HEI hotel worker revealed. “We came here to fight, and we will fight until we win.” Click here to read the entire story.