Vassar College Defined Benefit Pension Plan

Bryan Swarthout, Vassar's Vice President for Finance and Administration, and Leslie Power, Manager of Benefits Programs, are the named administrators. The plan's assets are overseen by the Trustee Investor Responsibility Committee, a board-level body that reviews investment proposals and monitors the portfolio's alignment with institutional policy.

Yes. The plan holds oil and gas partnerships, which places it in direct tension with the college's broader responsible-investing dialogue — the Campus Investor Responsibility Committee includes students and faculty who have historically pressured Vassar to divest from fossil fuels across all investment pools.

Confirmed holdings include the TIAA Real Estate Account and private oil and gas partnerships. The plan also allocates to a generic 'alternative investments' bucket, though specific fund names, vintage years, and commitment sizes are not publicly disclosed.

Both ultimately report up through Vassar's finance office, but the pension plan carries ERISA fiduciary obligations that the endowment does not. The Trustee Investor Responsibility Committee reviews pension investments, while the Campus Investor Responsibility Committee provides an advisory voice rarely seen in standalone corporate plans — a governance layer imported from the endowment's ethical-investing framework.

Vassar does not publicly disclose the plan's funded status or actuarial assumptions. No Form 5500 filings were available at the time of this profile to confirm the plan's liability coverage ratio.