8 March 2007

Harvard Darfur Action Group Asks University to Adopt Targeted Divestment Model

(Cambridge, MA) - On Thursday, March 1, the Harvard Darfur Action Group (HDAG) Divestment Committee submitted a letter to President Bok requesting that Harvard adopt a targeted divestment model towards the companies with proven financial complicity in atrocities that the U.S. government has determined to be genocide. The Committee is supported by 50 Harvard-wide student groups across the University, as well as 22 faculty, instructors, and fellows.

Since 2003, a brutal campaign, sponsored by the Government of Sudan, has been waged against civilians in the western province of Darfur. The US Government declared the atrocities to be genocide in 2004. However, with minimal international leverage over the Government of Sudan, the atrocities continue.

In 2005, Harvard University became the first University to divest from companies complicit with the atrocities, citing "deep concerns about the grievous crisis that persists in the Darfur region of Sudan." Harvard divested from PetroChina in April 2005 and Sinopec in 2006. Harvard's action prompted over 30 universities, including Yale and Stanford, to divest for Darfur.

"Harvard's current ad hoc approach to divestment leaves the University complicit in the Darfur atrocities, given that it still maintains holdings in companies as egregious as those that it divested from in 2005 and 2006," says Sarah Catherine Phillips, HDAG Divestment Committee Chair. "That is why we are asking Harvard to adopt the Sudan Divestment Task Force model."

The targeted divestment model would ensure that the Harvard endowment remains protected from investments in companies that meet all of the following criteria:
(1) Have a business relationship with the Sudanese government or are involved in a government-created project, and
(2) Fail to benefit civilians outside of the government, and
(3) Fail to implement a substantial corporate governance policy regarding the genocide, and
(4) Fail to respond to attempts at shareholder engagement.

"We are proud of our university for taking that first step on divestment two years ago. We are also looking forward to working with the corporation to adopt this plan to ensure its moral leadership is secured for the future." says HDAG president Julie Shapiro.

Please contact:
Sarah Catherine Phillips: sarah_catherine_phillips at ksg07.harvard.edu
Rebecca Hamilton: rhamilton at law.harvard.edu
Julie Shapiro, shapiro2 at fas.harvard.edu