Calling the human rights abuses in Sudan “intolerable,” Howard University’s Board of Trustees voted recently to cut off all ties with companies doing business in the war-torn African nation.
This decision makes Howard the first HBCU to join the growing divest-from-Sudan movement started by Harvard University in 2004 and sweeping across American college campuses.
“Clearly it’s the right thing to do,” said Howard University president H. Patrick Swygert. “The situation in the Sudan is intolerable and has been so for a long time.”
The decision at Howard, which was made public last week, came down during a board of trustees meeting in late January following an examination of the crisis and its devastating effects on the lives of Black African Muslims in Darfur.
As the student-inspired Divest Sudan movement has spread across college campuses, there have been a calls for HBCUs to divest. Joe Madison, a celebrated activist and radio and TV commentator, led a push at Howard University last year and thinks other HBCUs must join the cause.
“HBCUs have a close relationship with countries in Africa, and with the continent. They have a historical connection. They have educated post-colonial leaders. But most important of all: they’re African Americans. So they have a kinship to Africa and a moral obligation to take the lead on this,” Madison says.
Madison has been working on African issues, and Sudan in particular, for years, leading marches, protests and conversations on his D.C.-based public affairs radio show.
Divestment campaigns demand that universities comb through their endowments and portfolio and sell off any investments in companies, banks or governments doing business with the offending nation. The monies can be big, with millions of dollars at stake; although in the case of Sudan, even such large figures usually represent less than 1 percent of a university’s overall portfolio.
