UC Regents to Review S. African Investments

University of California regents voted unanimously Friday to review their policies on investing in companies that operate in South Africa.

Although the review will not be finished until June, the resolution’s author, student regent Fred N. Gaines, said he was confident that there are enough votes on the board to alter the university’s policies on a substantial portion of its $5-billion investment portfolio.

Gaines, who would like to see the system sell all its stock in companies that do business in South Africa, acknowledged that divestiture--rejected by the board in 1977--was unlikely. He said it was more likely that a future investment policy might take into account an individual company’s record on pushing for change in South Africa’s apartheid system of racial segregation.

Among the universities around the country which have totally or partially dropped their ties to American companies operating in South Africa are Harvard, Yale and the University of Michigan.

Calls for Report

The resolution passed Friday directs the university’s treasurer to prepare a report by early June listing the options the university may take in dealing with its estimated $1.8 billion in investments in firms doing business in South Africa. The university has no direct investment in that country.

Gov. George Deukmejian and UC President David Gardner voted for the resolution, but both said they would wait until reading the report before deciding if they thought the university’s current policies were adequate.

Gaines said he expected the university to respond to the current wave of protest against apartheid that is occurring across the nation, as well as on campus. “I don’t think the public will allow the university to continue with its current policy,” he said.

SH’Outlaw’ Government

Regent John Henning, executive secretary of the California AFL-CIO, said that by investing in companies doing business in South Africa, “we are sustaining a government that has been outlawed by the United Nations.”

Henning added: “If the black students in our university were in South Africa, they would be treated as slaves. . . . If our student athletes were in South Africa, they would be in prison.”

He said university employees object to having their retirement funds invested in companies that support the apartheid system.

When the issue last came to the Board of Regents--in September, 1977--the regents rejected, by an 11-6 vote, proposals that would have required the system to sell $555 million in stocks and bonds because those companies did business in South Africa.