It's hard to care about fiduciary responsibility when you have a bullet in your back. If the motto of our university is 'what starts here changes the world,' then why is the Board of Regents foot in mouth and head in rear when it comes to actually making a change to it's criminally-complicit investment policy. The image of The University of Texas is blackened by the disreputable actions of it's investment company, UTIMCO. UTIMCO is a highly secretive group of fund managers that recently made the decision to use the University's $11 billion to fund the murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent people, gang rape of women and girls, bombing and burning of entire villages, children being forced to fight as soldiers, and the worst humanitarian crisis on earth, genocide in Darfur.
While the business school has refused to accept even donations from tobacco companies because they cause lung cancer, the managers at UTIMCO have actually been providing the Sudanese government with the cash it needs to buy more weapons from China and continue to unleash a genocidal counter-insurgency operation. The consequences of UTIMCO's indifference and the Board of Regents' ignorance could stain the image of the University through conflict with student activists, religious organizations and philanthropists while also weakening it's power through legislative advocacy by the government.
Texas Senate Bill 247, the bipartisan legislation to divest $500 million of State and Educational pension funds drafted by Senator Rodney Ellis (D), Senator Florence Shapiro (R), and Representative Corbin Van Arsdale (R) and Representative Lon Burnam (D) was unianimously passed and signed by Governor Rick Perry.The Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act sponsored by Senator John Cornyn (R) blocked to divest from Sudan and support the United Nations African Mission In Darfur (UNAMID). Both of the Democratic Presidential candidates have a grade of A or A+ on DarfurScores.org and have sponsored legislation for Darfur. Even President Bush has called for more international support for Darfur and tougher sanctions on Sudan, and signed the national divestment legislation. With more and more politicians, students, and advocacy groups, and aid organizations who are trying to help refugees, the number of groups taking action and raising awareness and aid for Darfur has grown, creating the largest movement for human rights today. The Holocaust Museums have become anti-genocide activist incubators spawning the Save Darfur Coalition, and Jewish organizations like Texas Hillel have supported advocacy groups like UT's own White Rose Society. Students have formed the largest national group for Darfur, STAND: a student anti-genocide coalition and created the Sudan Divestment Task Force. The Sudanese government is spending considerable time and energy attacking the movement even purchasing a six page New York Times ad for more than $1 million to counter divestment.
Agreeing with the Government of Sudan, UTIMCO's Bruce Zimmerman has claimed that the slippery slope of divestment will lead to decisions being based on many social issues and that fiduciary responsibility frees UTIMCO from having to make decisions based on ethics. South Africa was once the target of divestment for it's racist system of apartheid, and it did not lead to a slippery slope problem. The really interesting slope is the correlation between UT's increasing investments in natural resources and the increasing death toll in Darfur. For five years, UTIMCO has invest in a racist system of extermination. Over the last five years, 400,000 people have been murdered, and our university has increased investments in companies providing the Sudanese with cash for weapons.
The Daily Texan has been clamoring for divestment since 2002, and this year more vigilantly than ever. They helped expose the Zimmerman letter to the Board of Regents and keep divestment and Darfur in the minds of readers. They have even been brave enough to attack students for not doing enough protests. One of their more surprising targets for 'not doing enough' was UT's Chancellor, Marc Yudof. Chancellor Yudof fought for transparency as the Vice Chairman of policy for UTIMCO. He is now leaving behind the largest university investing in Sudan by moving to a school that has already divested. Perhaps one reason he is leaving is that he sees the unavoidable backlash coming. He's lucky he won't be around to answer the phone. UTIMCO recently made cover of the Daily Texan as the 'number one endowment.' While we have the largest endowment thanks to generous alumni, that is akin to saying China has the largest population. Performance is what really matters. Even their own principals publicly asked why they are not performing as well as their peers. Pensions and Investments Online reported that “University of Texas Investment Management Co. returned 18% on the investments of its $11.7 billion Permanent University Fund, an endowment fund, ranking it in the bottom fifth of billion-dollar foundation and endowment funds for the year ended June 30, according to data from Russell/Mellon Analytical Services LLC. The permanent fund’s three-year annualized return of 14.8% put it near the bottom third of the 42 funds with $1 billion or more as of June 30. The data were included in the Sept. 21 agenda for the UTIMCO board meeting,” and of course, “H. Scott Caven, UTIMCO chairman, did not return a phone call seeking comment.”
Texas, the United States, the European Union, and all the other top 10 university endowments have divested from Sudanese investments, and UT is the largest public US university by endowment that continues invest in the violence, rape, and genocide in Sudan. Do something to change it. Visit www.WhatStartsHere.org to sign the petition to the Board of Regents to divest from Sudan. Let's stop reloading guns for the janjaweed and join the rest of the world that has come to it's senses. Prove that what starts here changes the world.
