UNH STAND chapter informs students on divestment
Dan Perrinez
Issue date: 2/8/08 Section: News
UNH-Following in the footsteps of such prominent universities as Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Amherst, Brown, Brandeis and Dartmouth, the UNH student organization STAND (a student anti-genocide coalition) has formed their own Sudan divestment campaign on campus.
In an attempt to inform and gather support for the divestment campaign, STAND invited Daniel Millenson, the national advocacy director of the Sudan Divestment Task Force, to explain just what divestment is and how students can promote it at UNH.
The event, which took place last Monday night inside the MUB Strafford room, came after members of STAND discovered that the UNH Foundation was employing asset managers who were investing money in companies conducting business with Sudan.
The Sudanese government is then taking these profits to fund the Janjaweed militias who are conducting the genocide in Darfur.
"The Sudan Divestment Task Force has a screening tool on their website that highlights which highest offender asset managers are investing in and that's how we found out that UNH asset manager," said Jackie Lewis, the divestment head of the UNH STAND chapter. "Vanguard was investing in complicit companies."
According to Lewis, the UNH Foundation treasury later confirmed the findings.
While UNH does not directly invest in companies highly involved with the Sudanese government, typically referred to as "highest offenders," the university is employing asset managers, such as Vanguard and State Street Global Advisor (SSGA), who are investing UNH's endowments in highest offenders such as PetroChina, a Chinese oil company that has given both financial and political support to the Sudanese government.
According to Millenson, divesting from companies like PetroChina would force the Sudanese government to pay a price for its refusal to restore peace and security to Darfur.
"History shows the only time they give into international pressure is when they are given economic pressure," said Millenson, who added that while divestment will not stop genocide it will create the environment to end it.
In an attempt to inform and gather support for the divestment campaign, STAND invited Daniel Millenson, the national advocacy director of the Sudan Divestment Task Force, to explain just what divestment is and how students can promote it at UNH.
The event, which took place last Monday night inside the MUB Strafford room, came after members of STAND discovered that the UNH Foundation was employing asset managers who were investing money in companies conducting business with Sudan.
The Sudanese government is then taking these profits to fund the Janjaweed militias who are conducting the genocide in Darfur.
"The Sudan Divestment Task Force has a screening tool on their website that highlights which highest offender asset managers are investing in and that's how we found out that UNH asset manager," said Jackie Lewis, the divestment head of the UNH STAND chapter. "Vanguard was investing in complicit companies."
According to Lewis, the UNH Foundation treasury later confirmed the findings.
While UNH does not directly invest in companies highly involved with the Sudanese government, typically referred to as "highest offenders," the university is employing asset managers, such as Vanguard and State Street Global Advisor (SSGA), who are investing UNH's endowments in highest offenders such as PetroChina, a Chinese oil company that has given both financial and political support to the Sudanese government.
According to Millenson, divesting from companies like PetroChina would force the Sudanese government to pay a price for its refusal to restore peace and security to Darfur.
"History shows the only time they give into international pressure is when they are given economic pressure," said Millenson, who added that while divestment will not stop genocide it will create the environment to end it.
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