Brown University agrees to divest from Sudan

Feb 25, 2006 (PROVIDENCE, R.I.) — Brown University’s governing board announced Saturday that it will no longer invest in companies that do business in Sudan because the country has been accused of genocide.

Harvard, Stanford, Dartmouth, Amherst and Yale have already decided to divest from Sudan.

The U.S. and other nations say genocide has occurred in Sudan’s Darfur region, where an estimated 180,000 people have died since early 2003 when decades of tribal clashes over land and water erupted into large-scale violence.

Members of the Brown Corporation, which oversees the university’s assets, made the decision to divest Saturday morning. The value of the assets to be divested was not immediately known.

Brown’s Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investing, which includes students, faculty and alumni, recently asked President Ruth Simmons to consider divestment.

Freshman Scott Warren, a spokesperson for Students Taking Action Now: Darfur, or STAND, said his group is “thrilled” with the university’s decision. Fifty students were in the midst of a rally calling for divestment Saturday morning when the university announced its decision.

The students have asked the university not to invest in companies that supply the Sudanese government with capital and do not engage in humanitarian activities in the country, Warren said. They expect the university to withdraw its investment in oil and telecommunications companies, but others could meet that criteria as well, he said.

(ST/AP)