The Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility met Thursday to discuss Dartmouth's investments in companies that operate in Sudan, where genocide rampages in the Darfur region. Though ACIR took no finite action, committee members considered what recommendation they will make to the Board of Trustees, including the possibility of divestment.
The College currently holds shares of at least two companies, Alcatel and Siemens, that work in Sudan. Because holdings shift constantly, the College's exact profile is only released once per quarter and investment in other corporations in Sudan has not been confirmed. Dartmouth has invested money in several companies that operate in Sudan in the past, including Volkswagon and Bayer.
As of Thursday's meeting, the committee felt it could not make a recommendation in favor of or against divestment, due to lack of information, according to Ron Green, the committee chair and director of the Dartmouth College Ethics Institute.
The committee has fielded requests to address the issue and encouragements for divestment from several members of the Dartmouth community, including Student Assembly and the Darfur Action Group.
In making a decision, Green cited the importance of divestment precedent, fairness to companies involved and whether divestment would, in practical terms, positively or negatively affect the people of the region.
Committee members acknowledged that the College does not hold large enough shares of either company to make divestment a large financial threat. But along with students, they agreed that setting a precedent of divestment might encourage other institutions to withdraw their money from the companies as well.
"A shareholder that has relatively few shares can have a fairly significant impact," committee member and College General Counsel Bob Donin said. He noted that setting a precedent for divestment could have larger implications.
"A lot of [smaller colleges] are actually looking for precedent, and if Dartmouth were to do this, they would be much more willing to do it as well," Darfur Action Group member Kelsey Noonan '08 said.
Green noted that the College might have a greater positive impact by drafting a shareholder resolution.
"When you're trying to weigh the relative effectiveness of various courses of action, that's one thing that's worth looking at," he said.
The ACIR may seek information from the Conflict Securities Advisory Group to aid them in their recommendation. The CSAG is an organization that investigates companies that are actively doing business in states with significant terrorist activity.
Green emphasized that while divestment would make a potentially powerful statement, it will not improve conditions immediately.
"Whatever Dartmouth does is not going to end the genocide. This is a complex situation, it's not as though we have a switch that we can turn on and off with regard to that," he said. "I think it's probably wrong to become panicked about this."
