Columbia to Divest From Sudan

Columbia has promised to prohibit any future University investment in the direct holdings of 18 oil- and gas-industry companies with businesses in Sudan.

The divestment comes at the recommendation of the Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing, which began looking into divestment in November 2005 at the behest of the Columbia University Sudan Divestment Task Force, a student group. Columbia does not currently have any direct holdings in these companies.

"Columbia University strongly condemns the genocidal actions being committed in Darfur and the Khartoum government's complicity in these atrocities," University President Lee Bollinger said in a statement.

The advisory committee-comprised of 12 students, faculty members, and alumni-advises the University trustees. It specifically targeted energy companies because it is reported that their revenues disproportionately fund military and weapons spending in Sudan.