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Issue date: 10/5/07 Section: News

Media Credit: flickr.com OUT OF AFRICA: Within the Sudan, Africa's largest country, lies Darfur, a region of violent tribal conflicts. On Sept. 9, 2004 former Secretary of State Colin Powell termed the occurrences in Darfur a "genocide." Violence has continued, despite a peace agreement signed in May 2006.

This fall, based on a student-led initiative, Trinity University made the decision to divest all funds from companies associated with or contributing to the civil war in Sudan.
In a formal statement on behalf of the University, Vice President of University Communications, Sharon Jones-Schweitzer, said that divesting from Sudan was a decision made by the University's Investment Committee and that the reason for divesting from Sudan is that "such investments in the country allow the Sudanese government to finance the genocide in Darfur."
The investment committee does not want its policies to become politicized," Jones-Schweitzer said in the statement, "but in the case of Darfur there is no other side to the argument to this human disaster."
According to Jones-Schweitzer, the statement also said that student interest played a role in the investment committee's decision.
"The information provided by students was helpful in putting the issue in context," Jones-Schweitzer said.
Patrick Disney ('07) was one of the original leaders of the Darfur Divestment campaign.
"I cannot begin to describe how pleased I am with the Board's decision," Disney wrote in an e-mail. According to Disney, he originally
started the campaign given the nation-wide support for divestment and the conclusion that this would be a good cause for Trinity to work for.
"Throughout much of the process we were met with skepticism," Disney said, "and it was because of the complexities of the endowment and the practical difficulties of implementation."
Disney said that the issue picked up significantly when University President John Brazil and Vice President of Fiscal Affairs Craig McCoy opened themselves up to the idea.
According to Disney, members of the administration, including the investment committee and the Board of Trustees, eventually made this decision because this is an issue beyond reproach.

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