Sullivan Principles Adoption by the Board of Trustees for South Africa Investment

In 1985 the five-member investment committee of the board of trustees unanimously decided not to hold investments in companies in South Africa that had not signed the Sullivan Principles. The Sullivan Principles, developed in 1977 by American Leon Sullivan, are a set of six requirements a corporation was to demand for its employees as a condition of doing business. In general, the principles demanded the equal treatment of employees regardless of their race both within and outside of the workplace, demands that directly conflicted with the official South African policies of racial segregation and unequal rights. The six principles are as follows: Non-segregation of the races in all eating, comfort, and work facilities. Equal and fair employment practices for all employees. Equal pay for all employees doing equal or comparable work for the same period of time. Initiation of and development of training programs that will prepare, in substantial numbers, blacks and other nonwhites for supervisory, administrative, clerical, and technical jobs. Increasing the number of blacks and other nonwhites in management and supervisory positions. Improving the quality of life for blacks and other nonwhites outside the work environment in such areas as housing, transportation, school, recreation, and health facilities. In October 1985 the investment committee divested stock of two corporations—Baker International Corporation ($350,000) and Hughes Tool Company ($225,000)—from its portfolio because the companies had not signed the Sullivan Principles.