UC regents assess effects of possible divestment

The University of California Board of Regents Investment
Advisory Committee met Tuesday at UCLA to review the status of the
UC portfolio and in part to provide an update on the status of the
Sudan divestment proposal.

The meeting focused primarily on discussion of the UC-portfolio
performance. Though the portfolio experienced positive returns,
some regents expressed concern over the asset-allocation plan that
resulted in lower returns than portfolios of comparable
institutions, such as Harvard University and the University of
Texas.

The meeting also addressed possible UC divestment. UC Vice
President Joe Mullinix updated the committee on the activities of
the UC Divestment Task Force, created last January to assess the
effects such divestment would have on citizens of Darfur and on UC
finances.

The task force has met twice and has forwarded letters to
investment managers in order to get information on investments, and
to potentially targeted companies, Mullinix said.

Pubic attendance at the meeting was low, with almost none of the
vocal student support seen outside and inside the event in January
at UC San Diego or in November when the regents last met at UCLA to
discuss the UC’s investments.

But a few students were present to voice their continuing
support for divestment.

UC students have pressured the regents to consider targeted
divestment from companies doing business in Sudan. The U.S.
government has joined many others in calling the situation in
Darfur, “genocide.” An estimated 400,000 citizens of
Darfur have been killed and many more displaced.

Support for divestment took up the entire public-comment period
at the beginning of the meeting.

Members of the UC Divestment Task Force and Undergraduate
Students Association Council President Jenny Wood responded to
concerns Regent David Lee voiced today and at the January meeting
regarding the effects of divestment on the citizens of Darfur.

Lee warned that taking money out of an already poor country
could make life harder for ordinary citizens.

Agriculture may have the greatest direct affect on the
livelihood of ordinary citizens, so the proposal excludes companies
that are invested in agriculture, instead targeting oil and energy
companies, said Adam Sterling, cochair of the UC Divestment Task
Force.

Students emphasized the promise that divestment could hold in
changing the actions of the Sudanese government.

“The regime has a clear history of response to economic
pressure,” said Michael Garner, a member of the task
dorce.

But Lee reiterated his original concerns with divestment. Lee
was born in China and said he lived under dictatorship in several
countries.

“Being on the other side, I know what it is when U.S. cuts
off aid,” Lee said. “The people who suffer are not the
dictators.”

Lee’s 12-year term as a regent ends March 1 and presided
over his last meeting Tuesday. His final remarks as a member of the
board warned members of the committee to keep their purpose of
looking out for retirees and students of the UC in mind when
venturing in social issues.

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