The AU board of trustees voted to divest from companies that do business with Sudan in response to the genocide in the nation's Darfur region, according to an AU press release.
The resolution, which the board passed at its Sept. 15 meeting, will address the divestment issue in four different ways, according to the press release. Along with not directly investing in companies involved in Sudan's gasoline and oil industries, AU will urge its investment advisers and managers to do the same.
Additionally, AU will require its investment team to inform the AU community of any monetary investment in companies connected with the Sudanese oil and gas industries by the end of this year. AU will also publicize its divestment and will encourage other universities and colleges to take similar actions.
AU's decision to divest from Sudan was part of an international response to the Darfur crisis, according to David Taylor, chief of staff to Interim President Neil Kerwin.
"It's a culmination of the larger worldwide conversation on this conflict," he said. "We also have new representation on the board that reflect new views. I can't say that any one action led the board to adopt this resolution."
Travis McArthur, co-facilitator of the Community Action and Social Justice Coalition and a junior in the School of International Service, said it was important that AU divest because it decreases funding to the groups involved in the conflict.
"It's important for AU students to know that their tuition money isn't, through investment, going to fund genocide," he said. "The taxes collected from companies that operate in Sudan have helped the government purchase weapons used in the genocide, so it was important that AU not contribute to that."
The violence in Darfur began in February 2003 after the Sudanese government allegedly enlisted the Janjaweed, an Arab militia group, to help suppress an uprising launched by two Darfur rebel groups, according to the Genocide Intervention Network's Web site.
Since then, the actions of the Janjaweed militia have led to the deaths of approximately 400,000 people and the displacement of 2.5 million, according to the United Nations.
The U.N. currently does not call the Darfur crisis an act of genocide, declaring that they could not find evidence of "genocidal intent." However, the body has repeatedly called it a humanitarian crisis.
According to McArthur, the effort to get AU to divest from Sudan began last semester. CASJ became aware of the nationwide effort to get universities, governments, organizations and companies to stop investing in companies that work with the Sudanese government. This effort has led several universities and colleges, including Brown, Harvard and the University of California, to divest from Sudan as well.
CASJ created the Working Group on Sudan Divestment, which helped collect 800 signatures on a petition supporting divestment. The Undergraduate Senate then passed a resolution asking the board to divest from Sudan. CASJ also contacted Student Government President Ashley Mushnick, Graduate Leadership Council Executive Director Wade Murphy and Student Bar Association President Jon Feere, successfully lobbying for their support on the resolution, McArthur said.
If AU's investment team finds that some companies it has invested in are connected to Sudan, the board's Finance and Investment Committee, in consultation with AU officers, would take up the matter. They would then make recommendations to the full board of trustees, according to Taylor.
"It would be a question for the next level of analysis," he said. "If we find that any companies in our investment portfolio were connected with Sudan, there would be a variety of options on how we could act"
