The Oberlin College Board of Trustees approved an amendment to their investment policy this June that will forbid the College from investing in companies that conduct business with the government of Sudan.

The amendment was created in response to the Sudanese government’s policy of abuse and oppression in the country’s Darfur region, which numerous international observers and organizations have referred to as a genocide.

The amendment states that its initial goal is to “provide notification in writing to each investment manager in the general investment pool encouraging them to divest from ‘targeted companies.’” These “targeted companies” meet a number of criteria: for instance, they fund the Sudanese government without providing any relevant assistance to the people of the country. Companies that provide that assistance will be exempted, as will businesses that apply “pressure” to the Sudanese government.

 Businesses that give military supplies to either the government or rebel groups are automatically targeted by the amendment.

 Because so much of College investment money is placed in mutual funds rather than sent to companies directly, finding out where Oberlin’s money goes will be a key part of divestment. College investment members are currently at this stage in the divestment plan.

“The way companies invest is complicated,” said College junior Penina Eilberg-Schwartz. Eilberg-Schwartz is a leader of Oberlin’s chapter of the student activist organization Students Taking Action Now: Darfur, and was instrumental in bringing divestment to the board’s attention.

STAND was started last year under the name Students Advocating for Peace in Sudan by a group of first-years. It recently changed its name to reflect its affiliation with the national student movement.

Currently, STAND is in the midst of a campus-wide call-in campaign to President Bush in an attempt to get United Nations peacekeeping forces on the ground of Darfur when the African Union’s mandate ends on Sept. 30.

The initial goal for the college’s divestment plan, according to Eilberg-Schwartz, is “to petition mutual fund managers to manage their mutual funds so that none of the money goes to Sudan.”

Eilberg-Schwartz stressed that although divestment will probably not affect life on campus — she estimated that about one percent of companies Oberlin invests in could be investing in Sudan — it has the potential to make a strong political statement.

“Statistics have shown that when the international community is making noise and focusing attention on Sudan, the violence lessens,” she said.

Eilberg-Schwartz and College sophomore Becky Bob-Waksberg, another member of STAND, brought the divestment issue to the attention of President Nancy Dye and Chief Investment Officer Marcia Miller in spring of last year.

The topic had been under administrative consideration for some time, but Dye and Miller took student activism as a sign of encouragement. In May, the executive board agreed upon divesting from targeted companies; in June the entire board resolved the current amendment.

Institutions such as Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Yale and Amherst have divested, as well as the University of California system. The Student Divestment Task Force, a national organization that is an ally of STAND, is working with students across their country to pressure for divestment at their own schools.

The amendment will become void if the Sudanese government halts its abusive activities for 12 months or if the U.S. drops its current sanctions on the country.