In defense of divestment

In defense of divestment
Rutgers Daily Targum
Allie Graham

Published: Sunday, October 26, 2008
Updated: Sunday, October 26, 2008


The Targum published an editorial last Thursday that expressed hesitation at Rutgers Against the War’s divestment campaign. The editorial objected that some of these 12 companies targeted by the campaign, specifically General Electric and Caterpillar are not strictly “military contracting firms.” While these corporations do have many and varied subsidiaries, the editorialists seem to say that this makes the corporations not responsible for their subsidiaries. General Electric builds engines for military aircraft, drones, tanks and ships on a scale that makes it one of the world’s largest arms manufacturers. Caterpillar produces a wide array of military vehicles including the specific adaptable bulldozers that are used in Iraq and Palestine for reprisal attacks on homes. We don’t accept that the people responsible should be able to hide behind complex ownership arrangements, as Haliburton has attempted to do.Not all of these corporations have been consistently profitable. Stock in Boeing, a self-described military contractor, recently fell 38 percent, and Caterpillar has seen its growth slow. We would like very much to be able to give a more definitive answer to this very important question regarding the specifics of divestment, but our hands are tied by the lack of transparency in Rutgers University’s financial arrangements. While we have written a proposal that explains our requests and reasoning, we can’t make concrete proposals without more detailed information and making this information available to the University community and ourselves is also a key element of our campaign. Rutgers has a history of divestment. In the 1980s, Rutgers was one of the first universities to divest from South Africa, and in 2006, Rutgers divested from companies that do business in the Sudan. We think that this experience shows that divestment is a useful and affordable option, and that the situation in Iraq makes it morally imperative as well.

Allie Graham is a School of Communication, Information and Library Studies graduate student and a member of Rutgers Against the War.