Trustees urge corporate exodus from South Africa

Dartmouth College is encouraging American companies doing business in South Africa to leave that country. The Trustees adopted this stance in August, but waited until students returned in September before making a public announcement. Previous College policy was built on the premise that an American corporate presence could be a positive force for change. In a letter he circulated with the Trustees' statement, President McLaughlin cited worsening conditions in South Africa as the reason for the new policy.

The Trustees believe that the South African government compromises the positive effects of American corporations. Furthermore, violence, economic uncertainty, sanctions, and the threat of boycotts against U.S. corporations doing business in South Africa have increased the financial risks of corporations remaining there. For those reasons the Trustees concluded that "the U.S. companies in which the College has invested should undertake to withdraw from South Africa and to do so in a manner that is least harmful to the interests of their South African employees and their investors."