Reprint of an article in DATELINE: ITHACA by Alan Snitow. Snitow argues that Cornell University should take the lead in disengaging from the racism and violence that are an integral part of our society by reviewing its portfolio and selling stocks in companies and institutions that support racism in the U.S. and abroad. Among these investments is $4.7 million in stocks in five banks that (with five other banks) are have repeatedly renewed a $40-million revolving credit loan to the apartheid South African government: Chase Manhattan Bank, First National City Bank, Chemical Bank of New York, Manufacturers Hanover Trust Co., and Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Co. There is an...
Reprint of an article in DATELINE: ITHACA by Alan Snitow. Snitow argues that Cornell University should take the lead in disengaging from the racism and violence that are an integral part of our society by reviewing its portfolio and selling stocks in companies and institutions that support racism in the U.S. and abroad. Among these investments is $4.7 million in stocks in five banks that (with five other banks) are have repeatedly renewed a $40-million revolving credit loan to the apartheid South African government: Chase Manhattan Bank, First National City Bank, Chemical Bank of New York, Manufacturers Hanover Trust Co., and Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Co. There is an extraordinarily high rate of return on investment in South Africa because of cheap black African labor. An African miner receives one-seventeenth the wage of a white mine worker. If Cornell publicly sells these investments, it will have great political effect, especially if accompanied by the resignation of Cornell President James Perkins from the Board of Directors of Chase Manhattan Bank. This would encourage other institutions to do the same. Economic expedience and financial gain, which are now the basic motivations in our society, should never be excuses for the U.S., or Cornell, to support racism at home or abroad. [Note: Snitow was a member of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at Cornell University.]
