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Citing Sudan Genocide, Smith College Directs Its Investment Managers to Ban 27 Companies
Read the May 2006 press release announcing the decision to ban investment in Sudan.
Read the April 2006 report by the Committee on Investor Responsibliity outlining the criteria for selecting companies to ban.
NORTHAMPTON, Mass. – Carrying out its commitment to ban investment in companies with operations that support the government of Sudan, Smith College will divest from one direct holding in its endowment and prohibit investment in an additional 26 firms.
The college’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously at its May 5 meeting to take those actions based on its opposition to the Sudanese government’s campaign of genocide in the Darfur region. The banned companies were identified through a yearlong study led by the board’s Committee on Investor Responsibility (CIR). The CIR is charged with monitoring social issues related to the college’s endowment and advising the board on responsible investing.
“The hope is that without foreign investments, the Khartoum government will find it impossible to continue its policy of genocide in Darfur,” said Smith President Carol T. Christ. “Smith and other institutions are collectively exerting important international pressure.”
Smith will divest its holdings – valued at approximately $1.18 million – from the French energy company Schlumberger Ltd., whose Sudan operations provide oil and gas field services to the country’s oil consortia. Smith is among a number of higher education institutions that now ban investment in Schlumberger, including Amherst and Williams colleges and Brown University.
In addition to Schlumberger, Smith will prohibit the investment of its endowment in 26 companies. (That list, which includes Schlumberger Ltd., is included below.)
In its 2006 resolution, the Board of Trustees condemned the genocide in Darfur and authorized CIR to research companies in which the college was invested. That decision recognized that the funds expended on the ongoing genocidal mission by the government in Khartoum come largely from foreign investment.
The 13-member CIR, which is comprised of faculty, staff, students and trustees, consulted a number of internal and external resources to arrive at its recommendations. Committee members studied the work of other colleges and universities, corresponded directly with several companies, and conferred with representatives of the Sudan Divestment Task Force, a project of the Genocide Intervention Workshop in Washington, D.C.
In its deliberations, the committee was also informed by the work of Eric Reeves, a member of the Smith faculty and one of the nation’s leading advocates of the campaign of divestment in Sudan.
Recognizing that companies may alter their business in the Sudan over time, the board charged the CIR Committee on Investor Responsibility with conducting periodic reviews of the college’s banned companies. In addition, it has identified a list of companies for further scrutiny.
Smith College's "Do Not Acquire" list as of March 8, 2008.
Smith College’s original “Do Not Acquire” List:
- Alstom of France
- Al-Thani Investment (United Arab Emirates) and oil subsidiary African Arabian Petroleum
- AREF Investment Group of Kuwait
- Areva Group of France
- Bharat Heavy Electricals of India
- CHC Helicopter of Canada
- China National Petroleum Corporation, the parent company of PetroChina and CNPC Hong Kong
- Dongfeng Automotive Company Limited of China
- Electricity Generating Company a.k.a. EGCO of Thailand
- Harbin Power Equipment of China
- Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. a.k.a. IOCL of India
- Kejuruteraan Samudra Timur Berhad of Malaysia
- Kencana Petroleum Berhad of Malaysia
- Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company a.k.a. Kufpec
- La Mancha Resources of Canada
- Lundin Petroleum of Sweden
- Muhibbah Engineering Berhad of Malaysia
- Norinco a.k.a. China North Industries Corporation, which is available to U.S. investors through Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFIIs)
- Oil and Natural Gas Company (ONGC) of India and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd., a publicly-traded subsidiary
- PECD Berhad of Malaysia
- Petrofac of the United Kingdom
- Petronas/Petronas Capital Limited of Malaysia, and its publicly-traded subsidiaries Petronas Gas, Petronas Dagangan, MISC Berhad
- Reliance Industries of India and Reliance Energy, Reliance Capital Venture, Reliance Communications, Reliance Natural Resources
- Schlumberger Ltd. of France
- Scomi of Malaysia
- Sinopec Corporation, a.k.a. China Chemical and Petroleum Corporation and Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co. Ltd., Sinopec Corp., Sinopec Group
- Sudan Telecommunications Company a.k.a. Sudatel of Sudan
Smith College is consistently ranked among the nation’s foremost liberal arts colleges. Enrolling 2,800 students from nearly every state and 61 other countries, Smith is the largest undergraduate women’s college in the country.
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Office of College Relations
Smith College
Garrison Hall
Northampton, Massachusetts 01063 |
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Kristen Cole
Media Relations Director
T (413) 585-2190
kacole@email.smith.edu |
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