Leaving Sudan

In February, the board of trustees approved a resolution prohibiting Duke from making direct investment in companies engaged in business with the government of Sudan.

The action followed the recommendation of the President's Advisory Committee on Investment Responsibility (ACIR) and President Richard H. Brodhead. The university currently has no direct investments in companies working with the government of Sudan.

The resolution, in protest against the Sudanese government's human-rights violations in the war-torn region of Darfur, covers the university's $8.2 billion in endowment funds and assets that are invested by DUMAC. This marks the first time that Duke has invoked its investment responsibility policy, which was established by the board of trustees in 2004.

The divestment was effective immediately and will remain in effect until the U.S. government lifts sanctions against Sudan. The sanctions were established in 1997 by the Clinton administration and added to by an executive order of President George W. Bush in 2006.

Duke joins a growing list of universities that are divesting or prohibiting future investments in Sudan, including Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale.