Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/655176
ByJenniferPeltz The Associated Press NEW YORK The nation's largest St. Patrick's Day pa- rade kicked off Thursday in New York City, and for the first time in decades, gay ac- tivists are not decrying it as an exercise in exclusion. The first of roughly 200,000 marchers began striding up Fifth Avenue just after 11 a.m. in a pro- cession of throbbing pipes and drums, smiling digni- taries and waving flags. As always, it was a cel- ebration of Irish heritage, but this year's parade also stands to close a long chap- ter of controversy. A year after a limited easing of the parade's prohibition on gay groups, organizers now have opened the lineup more broadly to include activists who protested the ban for years. "I never thought I'd see the day when I could march up Fifth Avenue in the St. Patrick's Day Parade with my husband," said Bren- dan Fay, chairman of the Lavender and Green Al- liance, as the parade be- gan. "When we started in 1991, after getting arrested so many times for protest- ing the parade, wow, what a moment this is." Besides marking firsts, this year's parade also looks back, honoring the centen- nial of Ireland's Easter Ris- ing against British rule. It is also being broadcast live in Ireland and the United Kingdom for the first time. The grand marshal of the parade is former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell of Maine, who negotiated the North- ern Ireland peace accord. Organizers aim to invoke "the lessons of sacrifice and heroism, of love and toler- ance, embodied in the Irish spirit," parade board chair- man John Lahey said when the plans were announced. New York's parade traces its history to 1762. For years, organizers said gay people could participate but couldn't carry signs or buttons celebrating their sexual identities. Organiz- ers said they didn't want to divert focus from honoring Irish heritage. Irish gay advocates sued in the early 1990s, but judges said the parade orga- nizers had a First Amend- ment right to choose partic- ipants in their event. Over the years, activists protested along the route, and some politicians boy- cotted. The pressure grew in 2014, when Mayor Bill de Blasio refused to march, and GuinnessandHeinekenwith- drew their sponsorships. Gay activists who have been protesting the parade for 25 years said they were thrilled to be included in Thursday's celebration. "This is a massive vic- tory," said Irish-American Emmaia Gelman, 41, who was repeatedly arrested at parade protests and met her longtime partner at one. The sponsorships re- sumed when parade orga- nizers opened a door to gay groups last year, allowing a contingent from parade sponsor NBCUniversal. But critics saw the gesture as to- kenism. Meanwhile, Boston's St. Patrick's Day parade ended a ban on gay groups that organizers had success- fully defended at the Su- preme Court. In the ensu- ing months, gay marriage became legal throughout the U.S. and Ireland. Against that backdrop, New York St. Patrick's Day Paradeorganizerssaidthey'd add a second gay group this yeartotheparaderanks:the Lavender & Green Alliance, which had long protested the gay-group ban. NATION'S LARGEST NYCSt.Patrick'sDayParadekicksoff,gaygroupsincluded PHOTOSBYMARYALTAFFER—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Steven Menendez waves a gay pride flag as he waits for the St. Patrick's Day parade to start on Fi h Avenue on Thursday in New York. By Collin Binkley The Associated Press BOSTON Some of the na- tion's top universities have drawn criticism for mak- ing investments in certain industries that activists say run counter to the schools' mission. Many financial experts don't see a problem, con- tending that endowments have a duty to make sound financial decisions above all else. Colleges are split. Some have stopped investing in industries such as fossil fu- els or prisons or have opted to invest in mutual funds billed as "socially responsi- ble." Others put few restric- tions on their investments. A look at some of the in- vestments that have stirred debate: Tobacco Several universities agreed in the 1990s to stop investing in tobacco, cit- ing its health dangers. And since then, many campuses have banned tobacco en- tirely. But records obtained by The Associated Press show many colleges con- tinue to invest in major to- bacco companies. In 2014, the University of Illinois banned smoking on all campus property. But the same year, records show, it invested in Philip Morris, one of the biggest U.S. to- bacco companies. Similarly, some University of Wiscon- sin campuses have banned tobacco, but the system still investsintobaccoproducers. Dr. Sarah Van Orman, a past president of the Ameri- can College Health Associa- tion, said it can be problem- atic for colleges to support industries that are destruc- tive to student health. The association banned tobacco and alcohol from its own portfolio. "A lot of people aren't even aware that they're in- vesting in some of these in- dustries," Van Orman said. The University of Wis- consin cited a policy re- quiring the school to "maxi- mize financial return, given an appropriate level of risk" while weighing "the impor- tance of public concerns about corporate policies/ practices that are discrimi- natory or cause substantial social injury." The Associated Press left a message seeking com- ment with officials from the University of Illinois. Alcohol The University of Texas system, where alcohol has been blamed for five stu- dent deaths since 2005, au- thorized $2.4 million to ex- pand alcohol prevention programs last year. But in 2014, the system's in- vestment arm also bought shares of the alcohol mak- ers Bacardi and Anheuser Busch valued at more than $2 million. Marcie Smith, executive director of the Responsible Endowments Coalition, said it's a conflict of interest to invest in alcohol while seek- ing to curb its use. "One of the reasons why there isn't a lot of transpar- ency is because university boards are reluctant to have it exposed that they're in- vested in these kinds of in- dustries," said Smith, whose group promotes ethical en- dowment investing. Land investments The leaders of 39 en- vironmental groups and think tanks sent a letter to Harvard University in 2014 criticizing what they called "troubling investments in farmland, forests and other natural resources around the world." A company owned by Harvard's endowment had reportedly been fined by Chilean courts for logging protected forests, and the manager of a Harvard sub- sidiary had been arrested in Romania for accepting bribes to purchase timber- land. Days before, Harvard students rallied on campus against timber plantations in Argentina owned by the school's endowment. In an op-ed in the campus news- paper, a leader of Harvard's investment arm countered the plantations are man- aged responsibly. The Oakland Institute think tank reported in 2011 that Harvard and Vanderbilt Universitysupportedcompa- nies that bought vast tracts of land in Africa, sometimes displacing local residents. The institute denounced the universities, saying the investments exploited local communitiestopursuecom- mercial farming. Gun makers After the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, a New York Times columnist reported that several colleges, in- cluding the University of California system, in- vested in the firearm maker Bushmaster, which made the rifle used in the massacre. Groups including the Campaign to Unload have formed, calling on colleges to divest from guns. The University of California told one of its student news- papers that it withdrew $35 million in investments, al- though students have con- tinued to push for a prom- ise that the school will not make future investments in the gun industry. The uni- versity did not immediately comment. Students at Boston Uni- versity also called on the private school to divest from guns, but the trust- ees rejected the idea last year, saying that they could not reach a consen- sus and that the issue "is not directly related to the operations of the univer- sity." 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