Wellesley College Disinvestment from Sudan

Petition for Wellesley Colleges Disinvestment from Sudan

WHEREAS the government of Sudan has engaged in a policy of genocide against its own non-Arab population in Darfur through use of its military and through sponsorship of attacks by armed militias known as the janjaweed; and

WHEREAS the Sudanese government is responsible for the death of 400,000 Darfurians and displacement of 2.5 million more; and

WHEREAS the U.S. State Department and both chambers of Congress have declared that the Sudanese regime of dictator Omar al-Bashir is committing genocide; and

WHEREAS certain international companies, by conducting business operations in Sudan, bring direct foreign investment dollars to Khartoum and provide both moral and political cover to the Sudanese regime; and

WHEREAS Khartoum has funneled large portions of direct foreign investment into military expenditures used to perpetuate the genocide while neglecting needed development projects in the Darfur region; and

WHEREAS the government of Sudan has a history of remedying egregious behavior in response to economic pressure; and

WHEREAS the policy and practice of genocide is abhorrent to the moral and political values of the members of Wellesley College; and

WHEREAS Wellesley College does not currently hold direct investments in any offending companies;

WHEREAS a policy of disinvestment would ensure that Wellesley College continues to refrain from direct investment in any offending companies; and

WHEREAS Wellesleys disinvestment would encourage divestment by fiduciaries that do hold offending investments, such as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,


We, the undersigned, believe that Wellesley College should disinvest from offending companies doing business with the genocidal government in Sudan as of the year 2007.