NU PRIDE: DIVEST FROM GENOCIDE

To:  Northwestern University

We, the students, alumni, parents, faculty, and staff of Northwestern University find and declare all of the following:

WHEREAS, the government of Sudan has engaged in a policy of genocide
against its own non-Arab population in Darfur through use of its
military and through sponsorship of attacks by armed militias known as
the janjaweed; and

WHEREAS, the janjaweed and military of the Sudanese government are
responsible for bombing villages and hospitals, gang-raping civilians,
summarily executing throngs of non-Arab Darfurians, using forced
starvation as a weapon of war, and impeding access of humanitarian aid
to the greater than 50\% of Darfurians that are now reliant on
assistance; and

WHEREAS, the Sudanese government is responsible for the death of
400,000 Darfurians and displacement of 2.5 million more;and

WHEREAS, in September 2004, U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell,
declared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, that the
Sudanese government and the Sudanese government-sponsored janjaweed
have committed genocide; and

WHEREAS, both the United States House of Representatives and the
United States Senate have declared, by unanimous votes, that the
Sudanese regime of dictator Omar al-Bashir is committing genocide;
and

WHEREAS, the Sudanese government and janjaweed militias have continued
their attacks despite the Darfur Peace Agreement; and

WHEREAS, certain international companies, by conducting business
operations in Sudan, bring direct foreign investment dollars to
Khartoum and provide both moral and political cover to the Sudanese
regime; and

WHEREAS Khartoum has funneled large portions of direct foreign
investment into military expenditures used to perpetuate the genocide
while neglecting needed development projects in the Darfur region;
and

WHEREAS the government of Sudan has a history of remedying egregious
behavior in response to economic pressure; and

WHEREAS, the policy and practice of genocide is abhorrent to the moral
and political values of the members of Northwestern University,
the people of the United States, and, indeed, democratic and free
societies everywhere; and

WHEREAS, investing public retirement or endowment funds in certain
business firms and financial institutions with clear ties to the
repressive regime in Sudan is inconsistent with the moral and
political values of Northwestern University.

WHEREAS, we, the students, faculty, staff and Alumni of
Northwestern University, demand that Northwestern University
immediately, publicly, and completely divest from all companies
supporting the genocide in Darfur, Sudan.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The NU PRIDE: DIVEST FROM GENOCIDE Petition to Northwestern University was created by and written by Alyssa Huff (a-huff@northwestern.edu).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.

Send this to a friend