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Yale pledges non-investment in Sudan; as does Brown; but UM...

15. March 2006 • David Boyle
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See, e.g., February’s press release Yale Acts to Divest in Response to Darfur Genocide , mentioning the Yale Corporation commitment not to have Yale University invest in Sudanese government obligations, or in seven oil companies which operate in Sudan. So has the Brown Corporation at Brown, too, in February similarly pledged (specific companies are not mentioned); see, e.g., Divestiture Vote: Brown Votes to Divest from Sudan in Response to Genocide .
...whereas at UM, the equivalent body, the Regents, has for months on end refused to make a similar pledge, despite the MSA request for such . (The UM financial office claims to be divested—what was the timeline?—, and says it “has no plans to invest in Sudan”; but what if one of its holdings invests in Sudan tomorrow?) It is sad how UM officially poses as a university friendly to blacks, but re Sudan and the African-American UM graduate students’ complaint noted here and here on AU, reality may be otherwise.



  1. david, you lost me—UM claims to be divested from sudan, UM poses as friendly to blacks re sudan—i can’t tell if you are endorsing or disputing UM’s claims/poses. then you throw in some links from left field having nothing at all to do with sudan.

    so is UM divested from sudan or not?


       —peter honeyman    Mar. 15 '06 - 11:04AM    #
  2. Hold on: You’re saying there’s a connection between the university’s treatment of Sudanese genocide and its handling of the grad student complaint? Are you kidding me?

    And wait – Hasn’t UM divested? So what’s your problem? That you didn’t know what the “timeline” was on that? That they might in the future reinvested? Wow.


       —Daniel adams    Mar. 15 '06 - 09:01PM    #
  3. Instead of Kanye West, there is David Boyle. And rather than an NBC hurricane relief fundraiser, it is Arbor Update. Still, the message is clear:

    George Bush The University of Michigan doesn’t care about black people.”

    This is the best of the worst of the live and unscripted D-BO yet! Bravo! You’ve outdone yourself yet again.


       —FAA    Mar. 15 '06 - 09:33PM    #
  4. UM probalby has not divested, and probably wont. As a state institution UM can’t run its own foreign policy, and the NFTC has already stated they will litigate this as soon as given the chance.

    Michigan just lost one case at the S.Ct. – and there it was a close call. Here – if they did divest – it be an 9-0 vote against them. They don’t want to be embarrased.


       —DL    Mar. 15 '06 - 11:50PM    #
  5. P. Ho: UM sez they divested, I hope so. I have asked repeatedly in public for a timeline of the supposed divestment. (I’d been told previously that there were c. 4-5 companies from which UM divested or had no stake in; but c. 83 companies, I have read, operate in Sudan. ...So when did UM divest from the other 78-79 companies, for a total of 83? Or did UM have no investments in any of those 78-79 companies?)
    And if black people are being neglected, that is bad in Sudan or U.S., n’est-ce pas? Even though genocide and grad student complaints are on different levels, of course.

    Dans: Same as above.—A timeline would help prove UM isn’t pulling a fast one. And yes, I can believe that even if they are “clean” today, that one of their investment funds could acquire a Sudanese-related holding tomorrow. Stocks, bonds, mergers, etc. fly around quite rapidly in the real world.

    AAF: Nice to see you again.—Tho, I’m not the one filing the complaint about UM, African-American grad students are so doing. A reality not to be ignored.

    DL: Fascinating! Thanks. Do you have some links to NFTC statements, etc.??


       —David Boyle    Mar. 16 '06 - 03:13AM    #
  6. I’m not the one filing the complaint about UM, African-American grad students are so doing. A reality not to be ignored.

    13 students with a lawsuit have nothing to do with the Sudanese, aside from your noting of the similarity in the color of their skin.

    It is sad how UM officially poses as a university friendly to blacks, but re Sudan and the African-American UM graduate students’ complaint…reality may be otherwise.

    Your using of the two unrelated stories to take a potshot at race relations at UM, a university that is consistently in the top ten of the nation for black graduates and has defended affirmative-action to the supreme court, is – much like the rest of your editorial spouts – ridiculous.

    Actually, it is disgustingly tasteless to use any talk of Sudan as a stepping stone to call the university a poseur friend to blacks. This is, again and without a doubt, the worst of all D-BO posts let alone any post to Arbor Update.


       —FAA    Mar. 16 '06 - 04:10AM    #
  7. Glad you’re keeping track of AU worsts.
    Except for your own. :P :O

    I still don’t see a problem. Again, the Sudan issue is worse than the grad student legal complaint, but it is no problem for me to note that while UM fawns on plenty of wealthy (largely white) folx, certain others, often of color (note Michigamua, too, etc.), get not the gold mine, but the shaft…
       —David Boyle    Mar. 16 '06 - 04:16AM    #
  8. I still don’t see a problem.

    That’s the fucking problem.

    Again, the Sudan issue is worse than the grad student legal complaint…

    Again, Sudan and 13 students with a lawsuit have fuck all to do with each other.

    Oh, and the 13 students deal is still only a lawsuit and not a decided case. Do you know the specifics of the matter? Have you read the complaint in its entirety? It could expose impropriety in racial dealings at the university, or it could prove to be wholly frivolous. Regardless, in the spirit of the whole innocent until otherwise bit of the legal system, with which I believe you are familiar, I suggest you lay the fuck off using this matter as any sort of evidence against the university.

    Except for your own. :P :O

    Wrong! This is my worst yet. Mostly due to the dropping of the f-bombs. 8-)


       —FAA    Mar. 16 '06 - 04:42AM    #
  9. Now if Yale can just avoid the temptation to enroll an official of the genocidal Khartoum government as they have a former offical spokesman of the Taliban…


       —mw    Mar. 17 '06 - 05:42AM    #
  10. Heh!

    “Yaliban”!!


       —David Boyle    Mar. 17 '06 - 05:58AM    #