Letter from Brooke Baldwin concerning the presentation of honorary degrees to Alan Boesak and Mr. Opel of IBM and a June 5 meeting on ethical investment policies concerning South Africa. Baldwin congratulates President Giamatti and members of the Yale Corporation for choosing Alan Boesak as a recipient of an honorary degree and expresses hope that this symbolic gesture of Yale's opposition to apartheid is a harbinger of more practical actions to contribute to the downfall of the apartheid regime. Baldwin says that, as a large institutional investor, Yale is in a position to take a moral stance and effect real change through its investment decisions. Baldwin comments on the irony that honorary...
Letter from Brooke Baldwin concerning the presentation of honorary degrees to Alan Boesak and Mr. Opel of IBM and a June 5 meeting on ethical investment policies concerning South Africa. Baldwin congratulates President Giamatti and members of the Yale Corporation for choosing Alan Boesak as a recipient of an honorary degree and expresses hope that this symbolic gesture of Yale's opposition to apartheid is a harbinger of more practical actions to contribute to the downfall of the apartheid regime. Baldwin says that, as a large institutional investor, Yale is in a position to take a moral stance and effect real change through its investment decisions. Baldwin comments on the irony that honorary degrees are being given not only to Boesak but also to Mr. Opel, Chairman of the Board of IBM, which supplies the computer for the apartheid regime's "Book of Life," the population registry or passbook system for Coloured South Africans. Baldwin says that Yale must make the hard decision to divest from IBM until it withdraws from South Africa. [Note: Baldwin was an important member of the Coalition Against Apartheid.]
