This is the second of two articles that examines the ways in which student activism has changed at Hopkins over the last two decades.
In 2002, the assault by the Sudanese army and government-backed militias on the people of Darfur shocked the world's attention to the long festering conflict. The images and stories of the systematic murder, rape and pillage of villages by the Sudanese government forces in Darfur, acts which would be later branded as genocide by human rights groups and the United States Congress, became symbols for a cause around which college students across the U.S. organized.
As in the anti-Apartheid divestment campaigns of the 1980s, this time students sought to express their solidarity with the people of Darfur by pressuring their universities to examine their investment portfolios for any possible links to the Sudan.
"It was an expression of 'think globally, act locally,'" Aaron Martel said. Martel was active in the campus chapter of Students Take Action Now: Darfur (STAND) before graduating last year.
Over the last few years, the Hopkins chapter of STAND has been active in raising awareness of the conflict both on and off campus. Beginning in 2007, it focused much of its energy on lobbying the administration and the board of trustees to examine endowment investments for any possible link to companies which do business in the Sudan. While the University stated emphatically that it is not directly invested in the Sudan, as of 2007 it had refused to examine whether it may have indirect ties via investments in mutual funds, as reported by the News-Letter in that year.
Despite its adaptation of a policy of gradual divestment from South Africa in accordance with the Sullivan Principles two decades ago, today the University is one of three schools in the US News and World Report's top 15 ranked schools, which has declined to divest from companies and funds associated with the Sudan.
However, the University's investment policy does have certain considerations beyond short-term financial gain.
"[Hired managers look for] sustainable businesses and take a long term perspective, and so are very broadly taking a socially responsible view," Kathryn Crecelius, chief investment officer, wrote in a e-mail. "[The University's money managers] are not looking to make a quick profit by hurting people or the environment."
While the University and the board of trustees maintain they are cognizant of the potentially far reaching and unintended consequences of its investments, they still question the value in divestment.
"What are the consequences if we pull out of 'mutual fund A' because one percent of 'mutual fund A' is in the Sudan? It's not an easy question to ask," Executive Assistant to the President Jerry Schnydman said.
Members of STAND are perplexed at the University's stubborn stance on the issue, particularly since the standards for divestment are much less stringent than those advocated for by the Coalition for a Free South Africa in the 1980s.
In spearheading STAND's divestment lobbying, Martel felt that the group presented the University with a divestment model which would not adversely affect its endowment.
Martel summed up the essence of the proposed model as "divest only if it does not affect the bottom line."
STAND members said that they attributed the administration's rebuff and subsequent cold shoulder to what was characterized as the "slippery slope" argument. That is, if Hopkins capitulated to student demands on Sudan divestment, a raft of other interest groups would come forward pushing the University to sever associations which they find objectionable.
"[The University doesn't] want to be seen as a type of organization that will change positions based on student suggestions," Martel said.
Schnydman presents a different explanation for the University's reluctance to divest.
"It is not hard for people who know there are gray areas in decision making. Most of our trustees would not look at it as black and white, but in some of those smaller gray areas. Some students might say that it is black and white," Schnydman said.
"People with good consciousness may not always agree on a particular issue."
Faced with University Rebuff, STAND Responds with Less Student Support
Since then, STAND feels that their further attempts to generate dialogue with the administration have been ignored.
Faced with inaction on the part of the University, in the late 1980s, the Coalition for a Free South Africa gradually ratcheted up the pressure, building shanties, conducting sit-ins and holding demonstrations. STAND's actions have been tame by contrast; thus far the only mass student movement has been the collection of 1,000 student signatures on a petition asking the University to divest from the Sudan.
"Students are not as interested in jeopardizing their potential success. They have a lot of deference for the administration - they want jobs and internships. The culture has changed," Martel said.
The level of student participation in the two movements stands in stark contrast. In the late 1980s, the Coalition for a Free South Africa had approximately 300 active members on campus. Adriane Alicea, president of STAND, said that this year the group has around a dozen active members.
Today's Students Take a Different Approach to Activism
While it may be difficult to imagine students erecting protest shanties on the Lower Quad today, the student activism springing out of the Center for Social Concern (CSC) located on the second floor of Levering Hall shows that Hopkins students remain socially conscious.
While the CSC does not fund what it considers political groups, such as STAND or groups which seek to work overseas, it does support over 50 student-run groups which serve communities in Baltimore in a variety of capacities.
Over the last few years of students have been working on ways to apply the principles of social entrepreneurship to create systemic change in Baltimore, according to Bill Tiefenwerth, director of the CSC.
Axle Brown, a member of the CSC's Student Advocacy Board, was one of the students instrumental in bringing the Changemaking Campus initiative to Hopkins. The Changemaking initiative aims to strengthen cooperation between student groups that deal with social issues on campuses.
Brown is also involved in a number of other educational and community outreach programs in Baltimore City. In this way he perhaps epitomizes the current generation's version of a social activist. He does not see his work as overtly political. The changing nature of activism is in keeping with the changes in the overall socio-political climate.
"Look at the [JHU] Tutorial Project; it had its beginning in the Civil Rights Movement, to tutor was to be engaged in a political act," Tiefenwerth said. "Do students feel that today? I doubt it. Instead they see it as a much needed service for Baltimore City."
In helping to administer a certain grant the Changemaking Campus has received, Brown looks to create networking opportunities for civic-minded students to create a greater sense of communal purpose as they work in various capacities to serve Baltimore City.
Such forms of student activism seem to burnish the University's reputation as a concerned and active member of the greater community. Thus some students report a receptive attitude on the part of the University to their initiatives.
"At Hopkins, deans and administrators will take you seriously if you have a passion for something. If you know your passion and vision, the deans will listen to you; don't be afraid to tell Hopkins," Brown said.
This stands in stark contrast to STAND's overtures to the administration over Sudan divestment.
Former members of the Coalition for a Free South Africa and University administration members all agreed that the provocative actions taken by the Coalition, as well as the negative press brought by the firebombing of the shanty, were pivotal in leading the administration and the board of trustees to adopt a policy of limited divestment from South Africa. The Coalition's actions and petition for concrete action on the part of the University also served to attract students to their cause.
Instead of building shanties as a symbol of solidarity with the oppressed thousands of miles away, today many socially conscious students have turned their attention to marginalized and underserved areas of Baltimore City, or to making Homewood more environmentally friendly.
However, STAND is still optimistic that some movement by the University on Sudan divestment is possible.
"We need to find a hybrid between confrontation and deference. Students need to use their power as stake holders and 'customers' or 'clients.' They don't seem to listen to us as members of the community," Martel said.
STAND holds high hopes for incoming President Daniels, who, coming from the University of Pennsylvania, a school which adopted a definite Sudan divestment policy, may be more open to student desires to re-evaluate the University's position.
