The press release says J. N. Musto, Executive Director of UHPA, today appeared before the Trustees of the Employees' Retirement System of the State of Hawaii, requesting that they divest more than $117 million in investments of companies doing business in South Africa; the System currently has investments of $2.2 billion; Musto indicated that the argument in favor of divestiture was based on both moral and economic grounds. The press release says Musto went on to state that the UHPA Board of Directors were motivated to make this request to the Retirement System because of the continued and systematic application of apartheid in the Republic of South Africa. The press release says the testimony...
The press release says J. N. Musto, Executive Director of UHPA, today appeared before the Trustees of the Employees' Retirement System of the State of Hawaii, requesting that they divest more than $117 million in investments of companies doing business in South Africa; the System currently has investments of $2.2 billion; Musto indicated that the argument in favor of divestiture was based on both moral and economic grounds. The press release says Musto went on to state that the UHPA Board of Directors were motivated to make this request to the Retirement System because of the continued and systematic application of apartheid in the Republic of South Africa. The press release says the testimony pointed out the status of divestiture in other cities and universities throughout the U.S., including New York and Los Angeles; the State University of New York, Columbia University, the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, and Rutgers University have all taken action to divest. Stanford University and the University of California are considering similar action; he concluded by saying that the Directors of UHPA were not advocating the immediate "dumping" of all investments without regard to the Impact on the stability of the State fund. Rather, UHPA is asking that the State Trustees adopt a policy In favor of divestiture and a schedule for implementation; it was noted that the current condition of the stock market might welt favor selling these investments at this time. The press release says for more information contact Bobbie Alicen.
