This letter to The Rev. O. Urcille Ifill, Sr. of the African Methodist Episcopal Church from Patrick Hagopian on behalf of the Penn Anti-Apartheid Coalition follows a discussion between them about coalition building. Hagopian stresses that this coalition supports full divestment of the University of Pennsylvania's holdings in all corporations doing business in South Africa, whereas the university Trustees exempt from divestment corporations that endorse work codes for their employees in South Africa. The Coalition does not believe that these codes provide sufficient reasons to exempting these corporations from the demand for divestment. They do not address the structures of apartheid, they...
This letter to The Rev. O. Urcille Ifill, Sr. of the African Methodist Episcopal Church from Patrick Hagopian on behalf of the Penn Anti-Apartheid Coalition follows a discussion between them about coalition building. Hagopian stresses that this coalition supports full divestment of the University of Pennsylvania's holdings in all corporations doing business in South Africa, whereas the university Trustees exempt from divestment corporations that endorse work codes for their employees in South Africa. The Coalition does not believe that these codes provide sufficient reasons to exempting these corporations from the demand for divestment. They do not address the structures of apartheid, they are inadequately applied and enforced, and they are used to justify both the continued presence of U.S. corporations in South Africa and the continued investment of the university in such companies. Full divestment is endorsed by almost all of the legitimate leaders of the South African people. It is also the position of Philadelphia's City Council and of those proposing divestment of State pension funds. It also is the position of the University Council, the highest deliberative body of the university below the Trustees themselves. Hagopian says he looks forward to coming together "in a meaningful unity in opposition to apartheid, domestic racism, and the university's investments in South Africa-linked corporations."
