Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

U. Colorado divests from Sudan
By Paula Pant
Colorado Daily (U. Colorado)
12/06/2006

(U-WIRE) BOULDER, Colo. — Expediting a resolution that had tentatively been slated for discussion in January, the University of Colorado Board of Regents on Tuesday unanimously voted to withdraw CU's investments from companies doing business with the Sudanese government.

CU is now the first state-funded institution in Colorado to divest from Sudan.

The move is part of an international effort to apply economic pressure to Sudan to end the genocide in its Darfur region.

The regents' rapid decision to divest came as a surprise to some, taking place only one day after the board heard an initial presentation from the President of Divest Colorado and one day after several regents and the CU president had talked about studying its feasibility over the course of the next month.

"The fact that they came back today to pass it after just having introduced it yesterday sets an example for other institutions that there is no time to waste," said Scott Wisor, president of Divest Colorado and a doctoral student at CU-Boulder.

The resolution passed with no debate, and the only comments voiced during the discussion period supported the resolution.

"This is genocide, like in Nazi Germany and Cambodia and Rwanda," said outgoing regent and Vietnam War veteran Pete Steinhauer, casting his last vote after 12 years on the board. "I certainly urge passage of this; it's the right thing to do."

Although limited access to Sudan has interfered with the accuracy of death counts, humanitarian groups estimate that about 400,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in the genocide, which began in 2003.

Divest Colorado has identified about two dozen "worst offending" companies. CU is invested in four to six of those companies, all of which belong to two Vanguard international funds, according to CU Treasurer Don Eldhart. CU's investments in those two international funds total $78 million, and both funds are actively traded.

A 1997 order signed by President Bill Clinton discourages American companies from conducting business with the Sudanese government, which is why the offending funds represent European and Asian companies in international funds, Eldhart said.

Eldhardt expects divestment to be difficult.

"There will be some tension as to what we want to occur, and the investment managers who really don't have any screens set up for that," Eldhardt said. "Vanguard will likely follow their regular procedure."

If Vanguard's fund sub-managers can't screen out the offending companies, Eldhardt says, CU will transfer its funds to a different account.

Eldhart has no estimate for how long divestment will take.

But in spite of the headache and the added workload, he says he fully supports divestment.

"I don't see any other means (to stop the genocide) other than economic," said Eldhart, adding that political and military attempts have failed.

Wisor agrees.

"We were hoping the international community would be able to intervene and put in a peacekeeping forceŠ but we're left with this as our only option," Wisor said on Tuesday after the vote.

On Monday Wisor told the regents that divestment is the "last, best tool."

CU boasts an official "neutrality policy" which states all investments must be made without regard to political or social factors. The Board of Regents voted for Sudan divestment to be an exception to this neutrality policy.

The CU Board of Regents is known as the least-political elected board in the state, and has a long history of focusing solely on university affairs while remaining silent on national and international controversies.

But the regents agreed the egregiousness of genocide forces them to take action.

"How can you live with not doing what you can?" Eldhart said.

About 30 schools in six states have divested from Sudan. The regent's vote Tuesday marks Colorado as the seventh state, joining California, New Jersey, Connecticut, Illinois, Oregon and Maine.

Divestment campaigns are also taking place at the University of Denver, Colorado College and Regis University.

The regents' vote comes one day after California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation to divest state money from Sudan.

The Colorado state legislature will look at statewide divestment from Sudan in their next legislative session.

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