Ethical Investment Committee

The Ethical Investment Committee was a student-faculty committee at Smith College that advocated for divestment from companies operating in South Africa. The Committee and other activist groups held film showings and other educational events in the fall of 1985 and urged the trustees to follow other colleges to fully divested. The Board of Trustees decided on February 24, 1986 to divest from banks that made loans to the South African government but not from US companies that have signed the Sullivan Principles. In response, students took over College Hall and barricaded the entrances, keeping administrators out until March 6. Participants in this protest included about 200 Smith students, a number of faculty members, and supporters from the other institutions in the Five College Consortium (Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, and UMass Amherst), and Dartmouth College. In October, 1986, the board voted to sell stocks in other companies operating in South Africa by October 1988.