Students Against Apartheid (University of Louisville)

Students Against Apartheid (SAA) at the University of Louisville was formed in the spring of 1985. The University of Louisville Student Senate adopted a Divestment Resolution in 1985 that called on the university to withdraw funds from banks that loan to South Africa and divest from companies with South Africa-related assets. The SAA coordinated a pro-divestment petition campaign, and the Faculty Senate adopted the Divestment Resolution. In April 1985, a group of students and faculty under the name Coalition for Total Divestment (CTD) marched into the administration building where the trustees were meeting, and campus police forced them to leave. A group then occupied the building next door, renaming it “Steve Biko Center.”  The Board of Trustees voted at its April meeting for partial divestment based on the Sullivan Principles. After continued campus protests and meetings of advocates for full divestment with trustees, the Board adopted a policy of total divestment at its October 1985 meeting. (Source: "Divest now!" The student divestment campaign at the University of Louisville: a crusade for equality,” by Chris Burns, 2016)