Tufts Selectively Divests, Finances Scholarship

Despite repeated student calls for total divestment, Tufts University will continue its policy of "selective divestment" from companies doing business in South Africa, trustees announced last week.

Trustee also announced that they have raised $42,750 for a scholarship program which provides scholarships for Black South African students attending racially integrated campuses in that nation.

The decision by the trustees was an effort to deflect criticism from continued investment in South Africa, said Jeff Ganz, the student representative on the board of trustees. "It's embarrasing to go to a school where student input is ignored," said Ganz.

The Tufts student senate wrote a letter to the trustees earlier this month requesting that the board completely divest from companies doing business in South Africa, said Ellen Bluestone, a Tufts senator. At the trustees meeting, Senate President Tracy Hahn presented a petition with 1100 names of Tufts students who called on Tufts to divest immediately.

Following the university's decision to continue selective divestment, the senate wrote a second letter expressing frustration and disappointment with the decision, said Bluestone. She explained that the senate regards the policy as "selective investment" in the South African regime.

Tufts spokesman Rosemarie Van Camp said that the decision to provide five additional scholarships for Black South Africans to study in their homeland was in part a reaction to the senate's presentation at the trustee's meeting. Both Hahn and Ganz, who was sent by Tufts to South Africa to monitor the program, said they were pleased with the funding but added that they would have preferred total divestment.

The scholarships are administered by the New England Board of Higher Education, a non-profit regional agency whose purpose is to act as liaison between higher education, business, and government. The scholarship program "is a grass-roots initiative enabling New England colleges to support Black South African students," said Ellen Anderson, a spokesman for the board.

Forty-four scholarships representing a commitment of $370,000 have been created since the program began in October 1985. Tufts, which had provided three scholarships, will now provide eight.

"We wanted to do something positive for Black South Africans who will now have the chance to attend open, integrated schools," said Joseph Lambert, overseer of the Tufts Corporation. Lambert added, however, that the scholarship action was "completely separate from the divestment issue."