Coalition Walks in Protest

Dressed in black “funeral attire,” members of the student coalition United Front for Divestment (UFD) joined together in a walk of “solidarity and mourning” yesterday afternoon to protest Harvard’s continued investment in Petrochina, a Beijing-based oil company that has ties to the Sudanese government.

Led by the saxophone playing of Marcus G. Miller ’08, the students went to open dining halls to gather support for their 10:30 a.m. protest on Widener steps today, the day that Harvard’s Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility, a three-member board of the Harvard Management Company (HMC), is scheduled to discuss HMC’s investment in Petrochina, which may be tied to the ongoing genocide in Sudan.

Nicole M. Laws ’06 said the inspiration to create a student-wide coalition came from a paper she wrote last year on Harvard’s South African student divestment movement in the 1980s. Using their model, Laws said she hoped to draw support for the protest because “the cause couldn’t be just one face, one group’s cause.”

Lawrence E. Adjah ’06 said that he decided to spearhead the creation of UFD two weeks ago at a Black Student’s Association meeting. “Student sentiment on the issue has appeared ambiguous. We’re trying to get the whole campus talking about Harvard’s involvement. We feel that a lot of people feel that Harvard’s investment is wrong, and we wanted to give a voice to that movement.”

According to Kaya N. Williams ’07, co-chair of the Association of Black Harvard Women, the response from campus organizations has been extremely positive. “Almost everyone has been supportive.” Laws added that their group on thefacebook.com has already reached 200 members since its creation two weeks ago.

Benjamin B. Collins ’06, co-founder of another genocide awareness group, the Darfur Action Coalition, stressed the need for a “broader group that can talk to the Harvard Corporation directly.” He created a petition protesting Harvard’s investment at www.harvarddivest.com that contains over 800 signatures.

“Bottom line,” Collins said, “is that it’s important to let the Corporation know that the students do care about what’s happening in Sudan. We’re trying to unite Harvard rather than divide it. We want to give the Corporation a chance to show their human side.”

A third group, Senior Gift Plus (SGP), has also been created to encourage seniors to give money to another fund until Harvard divests from Petrochina.

Although SGP is not affiliated with UFD, Katie E. C. Berndtson ’06, publicity chair for SGP said, “We do think that UFD provides students with a broad, non-political umbrella group that ensures that Harvard’s response to genocide isn’t stigmatized by the controversy surrounding SGP.”

At dinner last night, the processional with the saxophone and Adjah at the head came through several dining halls, handing out fliers to students. The dining halls were largely silent as Adjah gave a brief explanation of the protest, saying that it was a cause that concerned all students.

Even if the committee decides not to vote for divestment, Adjah said yesterday that the protest will be “inherently successful because it has helped to unite the student body under a worthy cause, as well as forced students to do something other than talking.”

Adjah said that this is UFD’s ultimate goal. “In the end, we hope that people will take the time in order to say that we’ve done something forward-thinking, forward-moving instead of just standing idly by. We want to have no regrets.”