Article on "THE SHANTY COALITION WON" reprinted from the January 1987 Peace Education Center (PEC) newsletter. Following Reverend Peter Dougherty's advice that sincere education accomplishes more than loud confrontation, the Shanty Coalition generated support and publicity both on the Michigan State University (MSU) campus and in the Lansing / East Lansing community; even the campus police and the physical plant staff were supportive. More than 1,460 petitions signatures were obtained calling on the MSU Foundation to divest. The article says the shanty was dismantled in the pouring rain on Nov. 26, after speeches on the Administration Building's steps by members of the African National Congress....
Article on "THE SHANTY COALITION WON" reprinted from the January 1987 Peace Education Center (PEC) newsletter. Following Reverend Peter Dougherty's advice that sincere education accomplishes more than loud confrontation, the Shanty Coalition generated support and publicity both on the Michigan State University (MSU) campus and in the Lansing / East Lansing community; even the campus police and the physical plant staff were supportive. More than 1,460 petitions signatures were obtained calling on the MSU Foundation to divest. The article says the shanty was dismantled in the pouring rain on Nov. 26, after speeches on the Administration Building's steps by members of the African National Congress. A coffin in memory of people who have died in the struggle against apartheid replaced the shanty on Dec. 8; Rev. Marilyn Marshall of East Lansing Peoples Church led the prayer and singing. On Dec. 11., the MSU Foundation voted unanimously to divest "prudently but as quickly as possible" from corporations operating in South Africa. The newsletter includes the text of a letter to the Trustees from Theresa Culpert for the Shanty Coalition. The newsletter says the two bills to divest Michigan's $3 billion in pension funds from corporations operating in South Africa lost being brought up for Senate vote by one vote, so the bills will be re-introduced in the House in January. The newsletter reprints the article "Arms traced to S. Africa" from the Detroit Free Press. The newsletter article mentions the Spartan statue, the African National Congress (ANC), Rev. Jon Lacey and the Campus Ministry, Jon Heisler of the MSU Student Council, the Reagan administration, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), the State Department, and the November MSU Registered Student Organization Fair. [Note: The Southern Africa Liberation Committee (SALC) was a task force of PEC as well as being an MSU student organization.]
