With the ongoing coverage of the dire situation in Sudan, we began reading that an increasing number of colleges and universities were divesting from companies that do business in that country. Right up to our press time, additional schools were announcing their plans to divest. It has been in large part because of the prompting and insistence of students that so many colleges have made that decision. The recent student protests conjure up memories of college students in the 1980s, who called on their college administrations to divest from companies that did business in South Africa, as a means of protesting that country’s apartheid government.
Schools divested then and schools are divesting now. However, will the recent calls for divestment be as effective as they were 20 years ago? Senior editor Christina Asquith in “Demanding Divestment From Sudan” speaks with American University professor Steve Hansch, who is somewhat skeptical. “South Africa saw itself as a cosmopolitan country that wanted to be part of the global world, and that was enough to make them give up on apartheid,” he says. Only time will tell how effective the divestment campaigns turn out to be, but one has to respect the students’ resourcefulness and dedication to raising awareness about the crisis.
Hilary Hurd Anyaso
Editor
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
