The Wheaton College Board of Trustees has announced it will not adopt faculty and student resolutions to implement an aggressive Sudan divestment policy.
The Wheaton investment of $11,000,000 in the Europacific Growth Fund includes approximately $60,000 of Sudan-related investments.
Companies that operate in Sudan fund the Khartoum regime, which has
killed over a quarter million people and displaced almost three million.
In September 2004 then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin S. Powell stated
that "genocide has been committed" in the western Sudanese
region of Darfur.
The Difficulties of Divestiture
Wheaton College’s Sudan-related investments are co-mingled or part of a larger portfolio binding the $60,000 in question with a total sum of $11,000,000. To divest the $60,000 would require the liquidation of all the College’s investments in the Europacific Growth Fund.
Divestment is "not a good thing if it’s done haphazardly," said Professor Jonathan Walsh, an advisor to the Wheaton College Committee for Divestment from Sudan.
The Wheaton College Committee for Divestment from Sudan is a student organization led by Martha Cornwell and Amy Johnson, as well as Caitlin O’Connor and Giuliana Brogna who currently are studying abroad. The Committee has organized multiple events over the past year to raise awareness of the Darfur genocide and urge the College to take action.
It is unclear what the financial consequences of divestiture would entail for Wheaton College. Vice President for Finance and Operations Roderick G. Wallick declined to comment, citing that he is not in a position to speak on behalf of the Board of Trustees. Mr. Wallick suggested speaking with President Ronald Crutcher on Trustee matters. The President’s Office, however, did not respond to questions submitted by Wesendonk.
"I understand how complex the situation is," said SGA President Derron JR Wallace, also a member of the Committee for Divestment from Sudan. "And based on the Trustees’ cost-benefit analysis, they think divestment is just not worth it."
In a statement received by Wesendonk, Mr. David Wagner, chairman of the Board’s Investment Committee, expressed concern in putting hypothetical resolutions into sensible action. "It is worth noting that Harvard, the first institution to announce that it would divest [from Sudan], is still navigating how to follow through on its policy," Mr. Wagner wrote.
In April 2005 Harvard University announced that it would divest itself of stock held by Harvard Management Company in PetroChina Company Limited. However, in February 2006 the University increased its holdings in China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), another major Chinese oil firm doing business in Sudan.
A Previous ‘Social Conscience’ of the Wheaton Board of Trustees
In an October 6, 1987 letter sent to William B. Budd, Chairman of the Trustee Committee on South Africa Investments, Wheaton College faculty wrote, "We believe that it is time for Wheaton College to stand with the many institutions of higher education that have clearly signaled their condemnation of apartheid by divesting themselves of all holdings in companies which do business in South Africa. We once again urge the Board of Trustees to take this clear step as soon as possible."
On October 26, 1987 ‘ only twenty days after the faculty sent its letter ‘ Provost Hannah Goldberg and Dean of Students Sue Alexander announced to students and faculty that the Wheaton College Board of Trustees voted at its October meeting to fully divest all holdings in companies doing business in South Africa by the end of 1988. The South African investments comprised 6.4% of Wheaton’s total endowment portfolio, then valued at $37,000,000.
"The Trustees expressed the hope that students and faculty would continue to voice their concern for South Africa through active involvement in improving the education of black South Africans," the written statement said.
The ultimate decision to divest from South Africa began with the College’s adoption of the Sullivan Principles in 1978. In 1977 Reverend Leon Sullivan of the Board of Directors of General Motors established the Sullivan Principles as a code of conduct for US companies operating in South Africa. According to documents obtained by Wesendonk, the Principles also served as an initial step in allowing those corporations to pressure the South African government to end apartheid.
Then-Board Chairman Mr. Winston R. Hindle, Jr. noted that the Wheaton Trustees’ decision to divest from South Africa represented "an expression of social conscience and of the concern shared throughout the education community over the increasingly repressive nature of the apartheid government in South Africa."
A Similar Resolution, a Disappointing Result
Wheaton students and faculty have employed a comparable protocol in seeking divestiture from Sudan by meeting with Trustees, writing open letters and drafting resolutions.
An open letter to the Board of Trustees signed by sixty-seven faculty members offers a similar argument to the letter received by Chairman Budd twenty years prior, citing the need to stand with other institutions in condemnation of the genocide in Sudan. The letter urges the Trustees to add Wheaton’s name "to a list of colleges and universities that have already restricted investments in Sudan, institutions we strive to emulate’Doing so would be more than symbolic; as the list of institutions grows so will the stock in the offending companies weaken and force change in policy, as companies on whom the Khartoum military budget depends almost entirely threaten to pull out."
At the March faculty meeting Professor John Miller encouraged the Trustees to support the faculty resolution for targeted divestment. He argued that "all members of the Wheaton community have committed themselves to acting as global citizens" and that "not to take action in the face of the ever-worsening genocide in Darfur would abnegate that responsibility."
Similar to the 1987 Student Assembly vote in favor of divestment from South Africa, the Student Government Association unanimously voted for targeted divestment from Sudan. And, similar to the resolution passed by the Wheaton faculty on May 2, 1986, the faculty unanimously passed a resolution in support of divestiture from Sudan.
Despite the parallels between the student and faculty initiatives in 1987 and 2007, the outcomes have varied greatly.
According to the March faculty meeting minutes, the Wheaton College Board of Trustees remains "reluctant to send a letter to all of the managers of all of the funds" in Wheaton’s portfolio that discourages future investments in companies doing business in Sudan.
Instead, the Board directed the administration to ask the only fund known to have invested in companies conducting business in Sudan about options for removing the corporation from Wheaton's portfolio, according to David Wager.
While the Trustees did resolve to send a letter to Europacific Growth Fund, the Board has yet to discourage all College-related funds from making future investments in Sudan. Critics have called the Trustees’ decision insufficient and ineffective.
Professor Walsh expressed frustration with the Trustees’ decision. At the March faculty meeting he noted that the College already had changed its investments because of apartheid in South Africa, and the Board’s refusal to send letters to every fund manager "flies in the face of what we are trying to teach our students on global issues."
The ‘Slippery Slope’ Argument
Proponents of divestment are quick to point out the College’s successful removal of assets from South Africa. However, the Trustees worry that divestiture from Sudan will encourage future divestment campaigns, according to Professor Walsh.
The Trustees claim that divesting from companies operating in Sudan may prompt special interest groups to urge further divestment from firms that conduct business in countries practicing, as an example offered by the Trustees, genital mutilation. The Trustees also cited PETA as a possible group that would pressure the College to divest from companies accused of animal cruelty.
"The comparison between full-scale genocide ‘ and I’m talking of a genocide that has been recognized by the Bush administration, by the UN, by the European Union - comparing that to a few animal rights activists is just ridiculous," said Professor Walsh.
Board ‘Justification’ Met with Anger
In a February meeting with the members of the Committee for Divestment from Sudan, the Trustees informed the committee members that the Board remained hesitant to divest from Europacific Growth Fund because the College was trying to raise money for student scholarships.
"I couldn’t believe that an institution that prides itself on preparing socially responsible citizens ‘ that the leaders of the school would offer such a response," said Mr. Wallace in a recent interview. "Say to me that you will exhaust all possible resources to limit our investments in the future ‘ say to me that you will write to our fund managers ‘ say that to me ‘ but don’t say to me ‘ don’t try to justify the use of this [$60,000] in this fund for our benefit."
Hope and Skepticism for May Trustee Meeting
According to Mr. Wagner, "The Board of Trustees is considering divestment from Sudan, with assistance from the administration."
The Investment Committee and the College's finance staff are investigating options for divesting. They will present their findings to the Board of Trustees at its meeting in May, according to Mr. Wagner.
The Board of Trustees has not invited the Committee for Divestment from Sudan to attend or participate in the May meeting. "We haven’t been asked or told to come back. We asked the Trustees if we could come seem them again, and we haven’t gotten any response," said Ms. Cornwell.
However, the Committee recently has posted petitions in dormitories with the help of Residential Advisors urging the Trustees to reconsider their March decision. The faculty continues to circulate an open letter that will be presented to President Crutcher on April 30th.