Students Demand End to HMC's Sudan Ties

A coalition of 11 student groups called on Harvard to divest from any holdings in Sudan-linked firms in a statement released Saturday, urging the University to emulate a similar move by Yale last week.

One of the campaign’s leaders, Jennifer T. Morse ’07, said the impetus for the recent push was Harvard’s increase in its Sinopec holdings. The stake had increased by 1,150 shares by the end of last year, according to SEC filings.

The group laid out plans to begin a coordinated campaign for divestment at an organizational meeting of 13 students yesterday.

Morse and Benjamin B. Collins ’06, co-founder of Darfur Action Coalition, outlined a plan to mobilize students and faculty that included petitions, faculty outreach, and a full report on divestment. The group plans to have a table at the upcoming faculty meeting on Feb. 28 to rally support for divestment.

The students accused firms operating in Sudan of “providing substantial assistance to the perpetrators of this genocide,” according to the statement.

They said that the situation continues to be dire in the Darfur region of the African country.

“One year ago, Harvard University led the movement among our nation’s top universities and institutions for divestment from Sudan, and we, the same students who celebrated Harvard’s divestment in front of Loeb House last spring, are calling on our University to reclaim its leadership in the movement for ethical investment,” the statement stated.

Yale joined colleges and universities such as Stanford, Amherst, and Dartmouth in divesting from firms supporting the Sudanese government, including Sinopec, last week.

“No matter what ethical guidelines you want to create, these kinds of stocks have to be omitted,” Collins said at the organizational meeting yesterday.

He said that the question of divestment would become increasingly important, given that the University of California system, one of the largest university systems in the world, is currently considering whether to divest.

The decision to divest could come as soon as the next University of California regents meeting slated for March,

“Our consciences demand it, our respect for human life and rights necessitates it, and the esteem in which we hold our institution leaves us no alternative.  We must divest from Sudan now and ensure that our investments do not support genocide ever again,” the students said in the statement.

The University announced this past April that it would divest from PetroChina, a subsidiary of the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), after pressure from students and some faculty members.

The coalition cited Yale President Richard C. Levin statement that Yale’s policy on ethical investing forced it to cease supporting a regime that commits genocide.

According to documents released by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, Harvard held 134,050 shares of Sinopec as of the past calendar year. If the University has retained this stake in the company, the shares would be worth about $8.2 million as of the close of the New York Stock Exchange on Friday.

At the end of the last calendar year, the University owned 48,100 shares of Tatneft, another Sudan-linked firm, according to SEC filings. That stake would be worth about $4.7 million at the close of trading on Friday.

—Staff writer Cyrus M. Mossavar-Rahmani can be reached at crahmani@fas.harvard.edu.