Despite a student-led rally last Wednesday, the Board of Trustees Investment Committee took no action in their Thursday meeting regarding divestment from companies allegedly supporting the Sudanese government.
“There was some discussion about the issue at the meeting, but there was no definitive decision,” said Eugene Sunshine, Northwestern’s senior vice president of business and finance.
No date has been set for further discussion of the issue, Sunshine said.
The Northwestern University Darfur Action Coalition hoped that the committee would issue a statement pledging that Northwestern would divest from 29 companies listed by the Sudanese Divestment Task Force. NUDAC argues that the companies on the list support the Sudanese government, which supports widespread violence in Sudan.
Northwestern still has investments in four or more companies on the list of 29, said Will McLean, Northwestern’s vice president and chief investment officer.
“I think it’s unfortunate that [the committee] missed a good opportunity,” said Alyssa Huff, a NUDAC coordinator and Weinberg sophomore, “but until I get a negative response from them, my response will be to continue pushing.”
To show student support for divestment on the day prior to the meeting, NUDAC rallied at the Rock. They then marched to President Henry Bienen’s office to deliver more than 1,800 postcards and a petition signed by students calling for a statement of divestment.
“I think they’re good guys [NU administrators], but they’re afraid to put themselves out there and issue a statement of divestment without the support of the Board of Trustees, so we’ll continue lobbying the trustees,” Huff said.
The university administration may not be pleased with some of the club’s publicity measures. NUDAC has distributed posters and fliers indicating that students’ tuition dollars are funding genocide in Sudan.
“Tuition dollars are used to pay salaries, maintain the campus and for financial aid,” Sunshine said. “Those wrong assertions [on the fliers] are misleading students.”
Huff said that the fliers were meant to grab students’ attention.
“If we’re invested in Sudan, our institutional reputation is associated with genocide, and that’s something students should care about,” Huff said.
To continue raising campus awareness, NUDAC is planning a panel later this month featuring survivors of the Holocaust and genocides in Cambodia, Sudan, Armenia and Rwanda.