Columbia May Divest From Foreign Firms

After divesting of stocks in U.S. companies that do business in South Africa, Columbia University will likely take its divestiture a step further when its board of trustees votes next month on whether the university should sell its stock in foreign companies with links to the country.

The board of trustees will "almost certainly" decide to approve Columbia's divestment from foreign companies with operations in South Africa, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Norman Mintz told The Columbia Spectator last week.

If the trustees do approve the plan, then Columbia will sell at least $6.9 million of the $35 million it owns in foreign stocks.

The university is not sure exactly which of the companies in which it owns stock have operations in South Africa, and thus the companies from which it may divest will not be determined until a newly formed committee of students, faculty and administrators meets later this fall, said Columbia vice president for investments Roberta Weil.

The committee will decide targets for divestment using criteria created by the well-known Washington-based Investor Responsibility Research Center (IRRC), Weil said. Since 1982 the center has published a monthly report listing American companies with operations in South Africa.

When the IRRC first included foreign companies in its report last May, the university decided to begin planning divestment from foreign companies.

"The list which Columbia adheres to is the IRRC report. Before we talk

divestment, we wanted to wait for their report," Weil said.

Since deciding to divest from American companies in October of 1985, the university has sold more than $40 million of holdings. International divestment is expected to take less time than the two years allotted for domestic divestment, according to a university spokesman.

If it divests from foreign companies, Columbia will not own any stock in companies doing business in South Africa except for $2.1 million worth in corporations with licensing or distribution agreements there, such as Coca-Cola Company, IBM and General Motors, Weil said.