City’s Congressman Attacks University Ties to Darfur

After visiting a refugee camp in Darfur, Cambridge’s congressional representative called last week for Harvard to divest funds from companies with business ties to the Sudanese government.

In an interview from Ghana with the Boston Herald, U.S. Rep. Mike Capuano, D-Mass., said the University should “do what’s right” and sever financial connections to the Khartoum regime, which the U.S. government has accused of supporting genocide.

This isn’t the first time Capuano has broached the divestment issue. Last April, he asked public pension boards in Massachusetts to sever ties from firms with financial holdings in Sudan.

Capuano is travelling in Africa with a congressional delegation. His office did not respond to a request for comment yesterday.

Harvard divested its endowment holdings in PetroChina, a subsidiary of the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation, in early 2005, after mounting pressure from students, faculty, and alumni.

But the University has maintained shares in other businesses with ties to the Sudanese government, including the oil companies Sinopec and Royal Dutch Shell.

The Khartoum government has helped fund militia groups responsible for over 200,000 deaths in Sudan over the past three years, according to the U.S. government. Last week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice labeled the atrocities a “genocide.”

Rebecca J. Hamilton, director of the Political Advocacy Committee of Harvard’s Darfur Action Group, welcomed Capuano’s call for divestment.

“I was thrilled to hear Rep. Capuano support our efforts to draw attention to Harvard’s backslide on divestment,” said Hamilton, who is a student at Harvard Law School.

“It gives a boost to the advocacy of the Harvard Darfur Action Group and the many other committed student organizations involved, once again, in a campaign for divestmen,” Hamilton said.

Benjamin B. Collins ’06, co-founder of the Darfur Action Coalition, called for further action from the Harvard Corporation, the University’s highest governing board.

“It is reasonable to expect a policy from the Harvard Corporation that prevents Harvard from investing in states that both the international community and congress have declared to be committing genocide,” Collins said.

Collins added that he believes Harvard’s divestment from PetroChina last year offers hope for future action.

“The best thing we have to go on is that if the issue [of further divestment] does come up this year, we know that students and faculty are passionate about this issue and care about the ethical integrity of Harvard’s investment,” Collins said. “We also know that the Harvard Corporation is willing to take this issue seriously.”

Harvard spokesman John D. Longbrake declined to comment yesterday.