A resolution was introduced to the Bloomington Faculty Council on Tuesday that calls on Indiana University to divest its portfolio of stock companies that are headquartered in Sudan or conduct business with the Sudanese government.
Professor Richard Shockley introduced a first reading of the resolution on behalf of the university’s Fringe Benefits Committee. He says that the United States and the United Nations have declared the situation in Darfur to be genocide. Shockley also says that a new Indiana state law, HB 1067, prohibits the investment of money from the Public Employees Retirement Fund and Teachers Retirement Fund in Sudan. He says the Sudan Divestment Resolution would essentially replicate the terms of this law at Indiana University.
Shockley says that the divestment movement has already altered the behavior of some companies that operate in Sudan. IU President Michael McRobbie says that a review of university investments revealed that the university has no dealings with companies that are headquartered in the Sudan.
