Dartmouth's ideals demand that we take action regarding our investments in Sudan, where genocide has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and has displaced many times that number, both internally and externally. The Sudanese government funds this extermination with revenue generated from oil companies. This money is used to buy weapons, including planes and bombs, coordinate the eviction and murder of millions of people and fund the Janjaweed militia that terrorizes the countryside.
Let us not delude ourselves. There are no easy solutions and few opportunities to effect change without government involvement. Divestment, however, is one of those rare opportunities to make a difference. Divestment consists of selling off all shares in oil companies that do business in Sudan and screening against future investment in those companies.
Divestment would let the world know that Dartmouth is not complicit in genocide. Furthermore, it will provide support for the efforts in Vermont to divest the state pension fund and perhaps even for similar efforts in Illinois. If we gather enough support behind divestment, the companies currently involved in Sudan will be forced to leave or suspend operations there, sharply curtailing the amount of weapons, genocidal infrastructure and militia support that the Sudanese government can afford. In addition, our actions will help persuade the government of the United States that there is a broad consensus for stronger action against the genocide.
Divestment is within our power. The policies of the Dartmouth Board of Trustees themselves state that "maximization of return should not be the sole criterion for the management of Dartmouth's capital resources. Investment policies should also reflect the broad societal goals for which the institution as a whole stands." If Dartmouth does not stand against genocide throughout the world, we will be tacitly complicit in mass murder.
