More than 300 students demonstrated outside the Old Executive Office Building Oct. 1 in support of the 2007 Darfur Accountability and Divestment Act. The legislation would authorize state and local governments to divest money from companies that do business with the Sudanese government, an action taken by the AU board of trustees more than a year ago.
Students are often involved in fundamental changes, said John Richardson, a professor in the School of International Service.
"Students are more idealistic than adults, and they are more willing to take risks to live out their ideals," he said.
The bill declares the killings in Sudan a genocide, and it "urges the administration to seriously consider multilateral intervention to stop genocide in Darfur should the United Nations Security Council fail to act." It would require the administration to impose economic sanctions on Sudan, including prohibiting U.S. contracts with foreign companies that do business with the Sudanese government, according to the Genocide Intervention Network, a nonprofit organization working to stop genocide throughout the world.
The ban on federal contracts is important because it forces companies to choose between doing business with the U.S. government or doing business with the Sudanese government, according to a statement by the Genocide Intervention Network.
The bill, passed by the House of Representatives July 31 by a vote of 418 to 1, currently sits in the Senate Banking Committee, according to THOMAS, the Library of Congress online legislation tracking service.
There are situations that call for collective outrage that sparks action, said Amelia Parker, program coordinator for the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at the Washington College of Law.
"This is one of them," she said. "It is time to challenge the politicians to be brave and take a stand and to challenge our fellow citizens to understand that saying 'genocide' isn't enough."
A number of U.S companies and higher education institutions have already divested from companies that do business with the Sudanese government.
The AU board of trustees voted Sept. 15, 2006, not to invest in companies doing business in the Sudanese oil and gas sectors and required the university's investment companies to reveal any additional holdings in Sudanese companies by the end of that year, The Eagle previously reported.
The measure came in response to a resolution passed unanimously by the Undergraduate Senate and backed by Student Government President Ashley Mushnick, Graduate Leadership Council Executive Director Wade Murphy and Student Bar Association President Jon Feere, The Eagle previously reported.
There was much talk about the crisis in Darfur but little action, so the Community Action and Social Justice coalition decided to take action, said Travis McArthur, a former co-facilitator of CASJ, who helped lead the group's efforts to get the board of trustees to pass a divestment policy. McArthur is also an Eagle columnist.
"While spreading awareness is helpful, awareness does not necessarily mean change," he said. "When you act, it can bring about big results"
