Sells Last of Stock : Cal Lutheran Divests Itself of S. Africa Ties

California Lutheran University, a private institution in Thousand Oaks with 2,350 students, has sold the last of its stock in companies doing business in South Africa in a move aimed at condemning apartheid.

About $50,000 in Chevron Corp. stock was sold after the school’s Board of Regents on Jan. 11 endorsed full divestment of stocks in firms doing business in the racially divided nation, university President Jerry H. Miller said Tuesday.

Although the divestment affected only 2% of the university’s $2.5-million endowment, the action has wider significance as “a further expression of our moral indignation” at South Africa, Miller said.

Alumni gifts of stock in corporations with commercial interests in South Africa will be accepted with the understanding that they will be sold as soon as possible, he said.

Student Pressure

The policy was adopted after students at the liberal arts university pressed regents to sell all investments with ties to South Africa, a tougher stance than earlier guidelines.

Previously, the university invested in firms adhering to the Sullivan Principles, a code developed in 1977 by Philadelphia minister Leon H. Sullivan. The code calls on foreign companies in South Africa to improve life for blacks by desegregating workplaces, providing equal pay for equal work, upgrading job conditions and supporting an end to apartheid.

Nationally, many universities--including the University of California system--have adopted the Sullivan Principles as a guide to investment policy. But many have also fully divested as violence has flared in South Africa between government forces and opponents of apartheid.

California Lutheran’s new policy brings it in line with two national church organizations that separately endorsed full divestment in 1985--the Minneapolis-based American Lutheran Church and the New York City-based Lutheran Church in America.

Governing boards of each group elect a third of California Lutheran’s 40-member Board of Regents, and the university, although independent, pursues an educational philosophy consistent with those organizations, Miller said.

The college president said that, aside from moral considerations, divestment is a prudent practice because growing tensions in South Africa cast doubt on the safety of investments there.

Miller said California Lutheran has sold about 10% of its corporate stock during the past five years to weed out holdings in companies failing to adhere to the Sullivan Principles.

No Loss

Selling the Chevron holdings did not cause any financial loss, he said.

Last fall, student foes of apartheid sponsored a debate over the university’s policy, brought speakers and films to campus and circulated a petition demanding full divestment.

The petition was signed by about 500 students and presented to the regents in December, said Ron Voss, 20, a junior who led the drive.

“We felt that the Sullivan Principles were a smoke screen to keep companies in South Africa making a buck,” said Jim Lapp, a 21-year-old senior who helped circulate the petition.

“We had assumed the board had adopted the Lutheran policy, but when we met with officials in the fall, we found out differently,” Lapp said.

A November poll of faculty members found that 92% of instructors favored full divestment.