Though the Brown Corporation announced on Saturday its intent to divest from companies implicated in the genocide in Darfur, the decision has yet to be met with an immediate and concrete plan for action.
In a University-wide e-mail announcing the decision to divest, President Ruth Simmons wrote, "The administration will proceed to assemble and provide information to the Corporation's Advisory & Executive Committee regarding companies whose business activities in Sudan can be shown to meet the criteria for supporting and facilitating the Sudanese government in its continuing sponsorship of genocidal actions and human rights violations in Darfur."
Louis Putterman, professor of economics and chair of the Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investing, said neither the Office of the President nor the Corporation has contacted him since the decision was made. "We don't really know yet" what is happening next, he said.
Elizabeth Huidekoper, executive vice president for finance and administration, said the Corporation wants to take care to ensure all companies the University divests from are in fact involved in the genocide in Darfur. Although "the Corporation members have all headed home," Huidekoper expects them to conduct an "independent assessment" in the next few weeks to determine the exact divestments that will be made.
The ACCRI's statement in favor of divestment reads, "With regard to effectiveness, precedents (including those pertaining to the recent civil war in Sudan itself) suggest that there is a real possibility that the signal sent by Brown and other organizations will lead some of the companies concerned to suspend their operations, that difficulty raising capital will slow the growth of operations of other such companies, and that the resulting slow-down in economic growth and in growth of government revenue will encourage the Sudanese government to change its behavior."
Although Brown has succeeded in sending this signal - the Corporation's decision was reported in over 60 newspapers worldwide, according to Scott Warren '09, head of the Brown chapter of Students Taking Action Now: Darfur - the economic effects of divestment will not be felt until the University actually withdraws funds from any companies in which they are currently invested.
After Chancellor Stephen Robert '62 P'91 announced the Corporation's decision, Warren told the Herald, "We're thrilled that the University has decided to issue a statement in favor of divestment ... however we urge the University to make a list of the companies as soon as possible ... because actions speak louder" than words.
Assistant Secretary of the Corporation Amalia Davis and Marisa Quinn, assistant to the president, referred The Herald to Michael Chapman, vice president for public affairs and University relations. Chapman said no more information has been released since the original announcement of the Corporation's decision.
STAND and the ACCRI have compiled a list of nine companies recommended for divestment and detailed why they believe they facilitate genocide. The list is composed of ABB Ltd., Alcatel, Marathon Oil, PetroChina, Petronas, Siemens, Sinopec, Taftnet and Total SA. All but Alcatel and Siemens are oil companies. In addition, both STAND and the ACCRI listed other schools that have divested from or are considering divesting from each one.
In an e-mail to The Herald, Putterman wrote, "Because I was not there and haven't spoken with anyone who was present at the Corporation meeting, I don't know for sure whether the Corporation was given our list of companies and of reasons for targeting them." He added that the Corporation's choice of companies is complicated because "the lists targeted by different universities and states involved in the divestment movement do not exactly match."
