The world has been horrified by the stories about the genocide in The Sudan.
Many westerners want to protest with their wallets by divesting from companies that due business with the Sudanese Government.
The Vermont Standard's Kevin Forrest reports on two such efforts on both sides of the Connecticut River.
A Dartmouth student makes his case before the college?s advisory committee on investor responsibility.
He and about 40 other students attended the meeting to urge the college's trustees to divest in companies operating in The Sudan.
The students argue that by investing in those companies, the college is indirectly supporting the Sudanese genocide.
Senior Becca Heller is with the student-led Darfour Action Group.
Darfour is the region of Sudan where some of the worst atrocities have taken place.
Becca -They?re poisoning water supplies. They?re burning crops. They?re putting toxic chemicals in the earth so no food will grow. They?ve set up rape camps which was a tactic also used in Bosnia where they set up camps and take women in and systemically rape women in front of the men in their families and then kill some of them. The combination of things that they?re doing is more horrific than I can describe.
The advisory committee was cautiously sympathetic.
Dartmouth College has a history of divesting from companies that support unsavory political causes.
It appears they will in this case as well.
But as committee chair Professor Ron Green points out, proving complicity can be tricky.
Professor - There are companies that are actually providing benefit to the people of a country, even a country torn by war and violence. Companies that are providing medical goods, for example, or infrastructure, the ability to communicate in the country and transport. On the other side, transport can be used for genocide. So it gets very difficult to make a fair determination.
Heller says students understand these complexities and they've done their research.
For example, they discovered that one suspect company, Bayer, was actually providing needed medical supplies.
But she points to what she calls the maddeningly long time it took for the world to even acknowledge the Sudanese crisis.
Heller - And this is what happened in the holocaust. The US knew that it was happening and people and institutions here sort of waited around trying to figure out what to do. And that?s how both of those instances and I?m sure others got to the scale of destruction that they did.
Heller?s efforts aren?t limited to Dartmouth?s ivory towers.
As an intern with the Vermont senate, she's played a part in that body's resolution urging Vermont to divest its pension funds from companies doing business in The Sudan.
Illinois and New Jersey have approved similar measures.
Vermont lawmakers are legally prohibited from interfering with pension fund investments.
This job falls to the state treasurer and pension fund boards.
But the bill's sponsor Windsor County Democrat Matt Dunne says the dire situation in The Sudan makes this resolution different from those that recognize a championship sports team or a Boy Scout troop.
Dunne - I think this is a unique situation. Because we cannot pass a law regarding the investment choices of the pension boards, this is our only avenue as representatives of the people of the state of Vermont to give direction for those investments.
Like everyone, Bennington Republican Mark Shepard says he deplores the ongoing genocide in The Sudan.
But he?s cautious when it comes to how best to make a financial impact.
He says the obligation of the state's Pension fund managers is to make the best investment.
Since the funds pay a fixed amount regardless of how well they perform, any shortfall would have to be made up by taxpayers.
Shepard - And my feeling on these has been, since the taxpayers are really on the hook for this, certainly if we?re going to go outside of investment practices that yield the highest return, those that are going to have to pay the difference should have some say in it.
Shepard has introduced his own resolution to bring pension fund investment back under the control of the legislature.
He did this after retired teachers voted to divest pension funds in companies that support privatizing social security.
That issue has people across the country arguing the pros and cons.
But it's hard to find anyone who supports what?s happening in The Sudan.
Shepard - For me personally I would have no problem saying I don?t want to invest in something that has something to do with The Sudan and we?ve done things like that on issues where we?re concerned. But it?s not my money.
Both Dartmouth College and Vermont?s pension keepers know that their respective investments are tiny compared to some.
Divestiture is a symbolic gesture that often resonates well beyond the walls of a bank vault.
The Dartmouth Advisory group plans to collect more data from a private research company before making recommendations to college trustees.
And Senator Dunne hopes his resolution will be considered before the legislature finishes its business.
Senator Shepard says it?s not a priority so late in the session.
For NHPR news, this is Kevin Forrest in Reading, Vt.
