Council: Investment in companies linked to Sudan must end

The Bloomington Faculty Council passed three resolutions Tuesday, including one requesting the IU Foundation to invest its retirement stocks in companies that don’t cooperate with the government of Sudan.\nThe council had previously passed a resolution on Nov. 20 asking IU to move its savings away from companies doing business with Sudan in accordance with the law Indiana’s General Assembly passed. Legally, the council has no power over the IU Foundation, but members saw the resolution as symbolically important, and hoped it would send a message to companies that are involved with the Sudanese government, an act that members say supports genocide.\nThe two resolutions were passed separately because the law does not apply to private organizations such as the IU Foundation.\nCouncil member and professor Lisa Bingham said the IU Foundation has no direct stock holdings in companies related to the Sudanese government, but the Foundation has $6 million in indirect savings invested in five companies that cooperate with the Sudanese government through fund managers. The $6 million represents 0.4 percent of the total money the IU Foundation invests, Bingham said. \nSome members of the council voiced concern about drafting a stronger resolution.\nCouncil member and professor Jake Bielasiak said the measure “falls short,” and asked the council to use stronger language in the resolution.\n“It matters for the symbolic meaning, so we should try to supply some cause rather than just words,” Bielasiak said.\nEventually, the resolution was re-phrased with more specific language and passed unanimously.\nThe council also enacted legislation supporting the Campus Sustainability Report and the creation of an office which would oversee various sustainability projects on the campus, said IU professor Michael Hamburger.\n“We need a centralized resource coordinating these activities,” he said. “Connecting the various groups working on different projects would make tremendous impact.”\nMost major universities are now undertaking some type of office to coordinate sustainability tasks, he said.\nThe third resolution restructured guidelines explaining how to resolve disputes between faculty members about authorship on journals and research.