Coalition for Responsible Investment

The Coalition for Responsible Investment (CRI) organized for total divestment by Carleton College, urging the college to change its selective divestment policy adopted by the Board of Regents in 1978. Professor Paul Wellstone (who later became a U.S. Senator from Minnesota), was a strong advocate of divestment, as well. Students constructed shanties in February 1986. In October 1987, on the day Stephen R. Lewis, Jr. was installed as President of the College, a group of students and faculty sat down in front of the library and blocked members of the Board of Trustees were from their meeting. Shanties greeted trustees at their May 1989 meeting, as well. The Board voted to sell stock in some companies operating in South Africa, but CRI was not satisfied, and 60 or so students laid down in front of one of the doors. The trustees never voted for total divestment. (Sources: “Carleton Moves Confidently Into Its Second Century, 1966-1992,” by Merrill E. Jarchow and articles in The Carletonian student newspaper.)