Draw the line at genocide.

To the villagers they are known as 'devils on horseback'. The Sudanese government is arming nomadic janjaweed militias riding with AK-47's on horseback. The government directs them to villages to indiscriminately murder civilians, gang rape women, and burn the village to the ground. The victims are targeted for their non-Arab African ethnicity. The conflict in Darfur, Sudan has resulted in an estimated 450,000 deaths and 2.5 million people displaced, homeless, in their own country. The US Government declared this atrocity to be genocide, a label reserved only for the worst of crimes against humanity.

The University of Texas is linked to the Darfur conflict there through its endowment, the largest endowment of any public university in the US. The University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO) is a private firm managing $23 billion of UT and A&M endowments. UTIMCO has millions invested in foreign companies in Sudan. A handful of these corporations are financing the Government of Sudan's military operations.

The White Rose Society, a local 'anti-genocide' organization, lobbied for legislation to divest the State of Texas from a targeted list of companies. Targeted divestment requires fund managers to replace holdings with alternative investments and restricts further investing. The Stop Darfur Genocide Act, a bipartisan bill was unanimously passed and signed by Governor Rick Perry last summer. $500 million of State and Educational pension funds invested in Sudan have been divested, but the UT System was left out of the bill.

For the past year the same students behind the lobbying effort have been campaigning to divest UTIMCO from Sudan. UTIMCO has received more than 1,000 signatures on a petition, presentations by activists, hundreds of letters, letters from legislators, a student government resolution, and pressure from many alumni.

On April 13th, the Global Day for Darfur, UTIMCO leaked word to divestment activists that it had divested from Sudan. True, UTIMCO has divested its investments in Petrofac and PetroChina, two Chinese oil companies considered as the worst offenders. However, UTIMCO has identified between $12.5 million and $19 million of additional investments in Sudan in commingled or indexed funds. This comes short of the goal of activist groups such as the White Rose Society.

While the campaign to divest is not over this is a great moment to reflect upon. Defraying the impact of the campaign, UTIMCO CEO Bruce Zimmerman has given the divestment movement exactly what they needed. He has acknowledged that investments in companies fueling the genocide are imprudent investments by announcing "(W)e discussed the risks associated with the investments" and to consider "the likely risk-adjusted returns." Other investors will now see that the University of Texas divested from Petrofac and PetroChina due to the financial and material risks associated with their operations in Sudan.

Zimmerman fears that if Sudan divestment activists are seen as successful, he will be faced with divestment campaigns for every issue from tobacco to pornography. UTIMCO needs a line to be drawn. Looking back, who would support the idea of investing in firms that sought to make a profit by selling Zyclone B gas to the Nazis or machetes for the genocide in Rwanda? The CEO also has the fiduciary responsibility to increase returns, and morality doesn't always agree with profitability. There is no responsibility to invest in companies that 58 other universities and 24 states have divested from.

UTIMCO should follow their own advice and continue the sale of companies fueling genocide without requiring the intervention of the Board of Regents. Sadly they are not willing to take action on a moral imperative, even fighting genocide. The managers are people with consciences, but they need the power to use them. Fortunately, President Bush signed legislation protecting states and institutions that divest because of the situation in Darfur. The State of Texas has already laid the precedent by divesting pension funds, and the Comptroller has the list of companies.

It is our responsibility to draw the line, and it is important that we help identify the investments that cross that line. We may become the progenatorsto the genocide-free generation, and we can all live with that hope. Draw the line at genocide.

What starts here?

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.

Don't cry for us

The Daily Texan should endorse a the White Rose Society's campaign for Targeted UT Divestment from Sudan not shed tears for its difficulties. On Tuesday, student government will propose a White Rose Society resolution calling on UTIMCO and the Board of Regents to divest from Sudan. While human rights groups have yet to stop the genocide in Darfur, they are not a failure to take legislative action, feed and protect refugees, and raise awareness. It is the White Rose Society that created a coalition and drafted and lobbied for legislation that divested the State of Texas from Sudan last year, wrote thousands of letters to John Cornyn and other legislators, raised tens of thousands of dollars for humanitarian aid, organized the annual UT human rights symposium this April 2-10, and made it possible for every student to learn more about Darfur and to do something to help.

The White Rose Society is supported by many individuals, foundations and a corporate gifts. It is multi-faceted and therefore not vulnerable to the demands of any specific donor. The direction and behavior is set not by donors but by a few students leading the divestment advocacy of the White Rose Society. So when you talk about the 'campaign' you are really talking about a group of student activists busily trying to pass classes, pay bills, and divest UT from Sudan. These students have donated their own money and long hours to the campaign. The direction of the campaign is focused on UTIMCO now, but attacking our university and supporters is not our strategy. Getting student, faculty, and staff support is the strategy that works. This type of advocacy costs time, not money.

Since 2004, Hillel International and American Jewish World Service have been providing humanitarian aid while simultaneously engaging in U.S.-based education and advocacy to end the crisis. Fortunately, it is not Jewish people alone who feel the responsiblity to never forget the Holocaust and to apply its lessons to our own time. The White Rose Society is not a Jewish organization and represents people of all faiths. The people of Darfur are asking us to never forget. As human beings, and global citizens, we must take action now. Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor Eli Wiesel has said: "Now people know. And so they have no excuse for their passivity bordering on indifference."

Texas Hillel is supporting the students at our university who have become the champion of human rights at our university. The White Rose Society are stars when it comes to taking action over apathy, and it is a movement that has captured the attention of tens of thousands of students and respect across the nation. I hope the incoming editor of the Daily Texan does not intend to continue to capitalize on the popularity of the White Rose Society by attacking the roots of a grass roots organization.

Unpublished Re: Viewpoint: When causes collide

A moral and financial imperative

The arguments against divestment from Bruce Zimmerman seem appropriate for an introductory course on finance, not a policy argument from the financial maven who manages UT's billions ("UT's investments remain in Sudan," Jan. 23). It's not hard to find an index fund, even for global equity, with little or no corporations on the Sudan Divestment Task Force's list of companies. All U.S. companies are sanctioned from operating there. Fidelity and Warren Buffet sold their enormous holdings in PetroChina. Several firms offer Sudan-free funds. Company after company, including Weatherford International, has pulled out of Sudan. Now, 58 universities and 22 states (including Texas) have adopted targeted Sudan divestment policies. Is UTIMCO ignoring the risk of investing in companies that are targeted by a powerful international divestment campaign? Will philanthropists continue to create endowments for the University if they realize their donations are being invested irresponsibly? Do the professors and faculty whose pension funds are being handled by UTIMCO have a vote?

In response to the letter in which Zimmerman listed alcohol, tobacco, pornography, nuclear proliferation and environmental concerns as part of a slippery slope argument, read an old Firing Line by Leran Minc, a student leader in the campaign: "Equating the murder of innocent people to social ideas such as tobacco and environmental agenda is ridiculous," Minc states. "Divestment is a unique tool for use in the foreign policy arena and therefore would be difficult to use in these and other social ideas. When did mass murder of a people become simply just a social idea anyway?" Targeted divestment involves engagement with mutual funds and companies, leading to more companies pulling out and more mutual funds becoming genocide-free. You cannot engage a tobacco company to ask them to stop selling nicotine and tar packaged together. However, you can ask a company to stop manufacturing their products in Sudan. His argument could have been convincing if South African divestment led public funds to slide the slippery slope on other issues, but it does not.

Zimmerman must explain why UTIMCO investment managers should not use investments they control to implement public policy, as responsible investment managers all over the world have already done. What starts here changes the world, and UT is responsible for some of the best advocacy in the nation. If UTIMCO won't act, the responsibility falls to the Board of Regents.

The Daily Texan Firing Line
Re: UT's investments remain in Sudan

White Roses work

If you have ever been to the West Mall on a Thursday you would know about how the White Rose Society is working to stop the genocide in Darfur. You would have noticed that we already successfully lobbied the State of Texas to divest over half a billion dollars from companies in Sudan with the Stop Darfur Genocide Act. You might know that the UT Investment Company is right now analyzing the exposure of its investments to companies that support the Government of Sudan which directly supports the militias committing genocide with funding, weapons, bombing and helicopter attacks. You did not know that Sen. Ellis, Rep. Van Arsdale and Rep. Burnham wrote to Jeff Huffines of UTIMCO to urge him to develop a targeted divestment policy. You should know that we have sent $6,000 to AJWS to feed refugees in Chad, and helped raise $400,000 nationally to provide funding for civilian protection by African Union peace keepers.

Those that don't care about any of this simply are not aware. I invite anyone to meet me for coffee at the San Antonio Street Cafe at Texas Hillel to see the drawings made by refugee children from Darfur in Chad and discuss the Darfur movement and the call to action. I'm not a "peacenik" and I don't sing or dance for Darfur. I am an American taxpayer, and my vote counts. I called 1-800-GENOCIDE to tell my Senator to support the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act, and I emailed him as well. You can, too.

The Daily Texan Firing Line
Re: Globalizing sympathy (and little else)

Life trumps investment returns

Grant Manning's "Sudan divestment bad legislation" on Jan. 30 is a clear and concise argument stating that legislation to the aim of any social goals, including stopping genocide, is unfair to people who wish to profit from commerce even when that commerce supports a government committing genocide. Those directly responsible are plainly in sight, but they cannot be stopped. Political pressure and peacekeeping forces have accomplished nothing. Military action is advocated by some, but what forces would take this action?

Yes, it is Sudan's morally bankrupt government and war criminals that are directly responsible for perpetrating this genocide, but you are indirectly responsible. The morality of divestment is not grey, but black and white. Individual divestment has no effect in a world where you cannot make people care. Being indirectly responsible is still being responsible.

The chain of responsibility is clear, and indirect responsibility falls on the United Nations, the United States, the State of Texas, the University of Texas Investment Company and all investors in foreign corporations that operate in Sudan. Why?

Genocide isn't cheap, and the money comes from our pockets. The money invested in companies supporting Sudan is money invested in genocide. UTIMCO is not nearly as sizeable a goal in the divestment campaign as the state of Texas, and if I had the time I would be lobbying the Board of Regents, as several universities have already passed divestment by-laws.

I can ignore your ignorance about the specifications of these bills, but it's clear if you know the history behind the campaign that this legislation is not a total divestment of all foreign companies similar to the sanctions already imposed by the U.S. government preventing all U.S. companies from operating there. S.B. 247 and H.B. 667 are "targeted divestment" legislation. Targeted divestment is restricted to companies that would not affect the civilian population of Sudan or U.S. interests. More than 85 percent of Sudan's income is used by the military, and foreign investment brings in more money than any other source.

Divestment already has a precedent, and has been used all over the world by governments and universities to take stances on social issues. Sanctions are much harsher and even more common. Divestment campaigns were called the final blow that peacefully brought down the apartheid regime in South Africa in the early 1990s, after the pressure of world opinion and attacks by African nationalist groups.

Government ultimately is a social expenditure, and we all have a right to be activists and stand up for what we think is right. If we aren't allowed to decide how to spend the money the government taxes from us, that is taxation without representation. People have a right to invest in genocide, but the government does not. You can't make people care, but you can make your government act.

At least you state that life is more important than small investments.

The Daily Texan Firing Line
Re: Sudan divestment bad legislation

Help stop the crisis in Darfur

The cause has been the same for the last three years, stopping the greatest humanitarian crisis on earth, the genocide in Darfur, a region of Sudan. Sure it sounds remote, but maybe you saw the roses on campus to honor the victims of the Holocaust. If you visited the Web site on the fliers you'd realize that the same grassroots organization behind handing out 10,000 roses on campus is also behind a national, state and university campaign to stop the genocide in Darfur.

The world watched the genocide in Rwanda, and we could not stop it in time. Today the genocide continues in Darfur as we slowly watch in idle. Calling for the use of force is brave, but as you noted the idea of the U.S. sending troops into Africa went sour with Somalia ("Free Tibet, stop Darfur, save Congo!" April 11). Japan has not yet created an international fighting force, and the Islamists would be ever so happy to see Israeli troops in Darfur. Egypt and Saudia Arabia are Arab Muslim majorities, while the African Union forces that are on the ground are from neighboring African countries.

Yes stopping the crisis in Darfur will require more than diplomacy, but force may not be the only answer. Sudan is unresponsive to social and political pressure. However they are historically responsive to economic pressure.

The Darfur activists have a petition for the University of Texas Investment Management Company to divest from companies supporting the Sudanese regime, an enormous and successful letter campaign, a team of student lobbyists, a hired public policy relations group, national affiliates, a bill passed in the Texas Senate and dozens of sponsors for divestment legislation in the Texas House of Representatives. Texas Senators plan on making a trip to Darfur this summer.

Targeted Sudan Divestment for Texas follows a well laid out plan to target a list of companies that are the worst offenders. These companies provide energy, oil, telecommunications and, of course, enormous funding to the Sudanese government and military. They are directly complicit in the genocide, and our money is invested in them. Pulling out investments, and simply threatening the same has already evoked attacks by the Sudanese government, even taking out a full page in the New York Times indicating that they don't want the campaign to continue.

You might think "raising awareness" has no effect, but the truth is that only a few students are aware of the crisis in Darfur. You can't make people care, but you can make people aware. Sign the petition.

The Daily Texan Firing Line
Re: Free Tibet, stop Darfur, save Congo!