UC Votes To Encourge Harvard To Cut Ties with the Sudanese Government by Ending Indirect Investments

The Undergraduate Council (UC) urged Harvard to further divest from companies with ties to the Sudanese government in an uncontested vote last night.

The University has in recent years ended its direct investments in two Chinese oil companies that do business in Sudan, but still holds indirect investments in these companies and others through index funds managed by Barclays, a British bank.

Representatives of the Harvard Darfur Action Group (HDAG) were on hand to present yesterday’s legislation, which included both a position paper and a resolution urging the administrators of Harvard’s endowment to adhere to HDAG’s model for divestment.

Among the central tenets of the legislation were imperatives to resist investing in any companies that “have a business relationship with the Sudanese government” while “[failing] to benefit civilians outside of the government.”

Following the meeting, UC President Ryan A. Petersen ’08 expressed his support for the legislation, which passed without a single dissenter.

“The [divestment] movement had developed so much that it seemed like the next logical step was to have the Undergraduate Council support the call for divestment on behalf of all undergraduates,” Petersen said.

HDAG representative Megan A. Shutzer ’10 said the significance of yesterday’s decision lies in the potential influence it could have elsewhere.

“In the end, what’s important about this divestment campaign is not only Harvard’s divestment but also the effect that it might have on other universities and states,” she said.

Even prior to yesterday’s legislation, the UC has had a hand in campus divestment issues. UC representative Matthew R. Greenfield ’08 is currently the only undergraduate sitting on the Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility—a body composed of faculty, students, and alumni that advises the University on divestment issues.