Namibia/South African Concerns Committee

In spring of 1984, the Namibia/South African Concerns Committee, BIKO: Students for Positive Action, Black Student Union, and the Luther College Congregation submitted a resolution to the Luther College Board of Regents advocating divestment of all stocks in companies involved in South Africa. Educational events were held that spring, including a debate on divestment sponsored by the Spiritual Life Committee in which three members of the Wartburg Theological Seminary Namibia Concerns Committee took part. The Student/Faculty Committee on Divestment also supported this resolution, but the Board of Regents rejected it at their meeting in May 1984. The Namibia/South African Concerns Committee held educational and fund-raising events on South Africa and Namibia and lobbied on U.S. policy toward Namibia. In February 1985, Dennis Brutus and Donald Woods spoke on the Luther College campus. The campus was still debating about divestment in 1988. Both Luther College and Wartburg College are affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which has a strong connection with Namibia. (Sources: Articles in Namibia Newsletter (on this website) and the student newspaper, College Chips.)