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Anti-Apartheid Divestment Campaign (1985–1988)

Overview

In the mid-1980s, Hamilton College students joined the national campus wave of activism demanding that colleges divest endowment holdings from companies doing business in apartheid South Africa. The campaign began with lectures and organizing in 1985 and escalated to direct action in spring 1986, when students erected a shantytown on campus and staged a sit-in at Buttrick Hall. The trustees ultimately refused to divest, and physically destroyed the student shanties — a precedent that was explicitly invoked by the Hamilton Divests fossil fuel campaign nearly three decades later.

Key Points

• Endowment investigation reveals South Africa exposure (early 1985). An investigative piece by John Hinge established that Hamilton’s Equity Diversification Endowment held approximately $15–25 million in 15 companies with South African subsidiaries, out of a total endowment of $65 million (as of December 31, 1984). Forty schools nationwide had already divested $170 million. President Carovano stated plainly: “Our official policy is not to divest.” Investment Committee Chair Ralph Hansmann ‘40 was identified as the key trustee figure. The piece gave the divestment campaign its financial baseline and set the terms of debate for the year to come. (The Spectator, March 1, 1985)

• Hamilton students join 100,000-person D.C. peace rally (April 1985). Fifteen Hamilton students traveled to Washington, D.C. on April 21, 1985, for a massive Peace/Jobs/Justice march organized by the Griffis Action Organizing Committee and H.O.P.E. Jesse Jackson spoke at the rally. The contingent’s participation linked the Hamilton divestment campaign to the broader national movement. (The Spectator, April 26, 1985)

• “Students for Divestment” publishes open letter; Carovano agrees to forum (spring 1985). “Students for Divestment” published an open letter (“Dear Mr. Caravano”) in the April 26 Spectator. Carovano responded on April 29 to Susan F. Crane ‘87, expressing willingness to discuss the issue in a public forum. Student leaders of the campaign at this stage were Trish Bailey ‘87, Susan F. Crane ‘87, and Paul Ngobeni ‘86. (The Spectator, May 3, 1985)

• First public forum on divestment held in Chapel (May 1985). Carovano presented the college’s case against divestment in a public forum in the Chapel; Paul Ngobeni ‘86, a South African student, argued for divestment. The college’s total endowment stood at $70 million at the time of the forum. Carovano noted that the Board had debated and rejected divestment four to five years earlier. (The Spectator, May 10, 1985)

• Mary Frances Berry lecture (April 19, 1985): Professor Mary Frances Berry of Howard University, then a member of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, delivered a lecture titled “South Africa: The Growing Dilemma” to approximately 100 people in the Hamilton College Chapel. Berry’s visit coincided with active student pressure on the college to divest endowment holdings from companies doing business in apartheid South Africa

• H.O.P.E. week of action and first shantytown (March 3–9, 1986): A student coalition organized a week of action called H.O.P.E. (Hamiltonians Organizing for Peace and Equity or similar). Students erected a shantytown featuring banners reading “Apartheid Kills… Hamilton Pays the Bills.” President Carovano issued a letter to the community permitting the protest subject to conditions and required the shanties be removed by Sunday March 9 before the Board of Trustees meeting on Monday March 10. Two trustees — Hans Schambach and Susan Annich ‘73 (Kirkland alumna) — were directly confronted by protesters Thursday evening. The Trustees adopted a selective investment policy (maintaining holdings in companies meeting Sullivan Principles I or II) rather than full divestment. (The Spectator, March 7, 1986)

• Special “Divestment Extra” issue: Trustees formally say no (March 10, 1986). The Spectator published a special “Divestment Extra” edition documenting the Board’s formal decision on March 9, 1986. Trustee Chair William M. Bristol III read a three-page statement on the steps of Buttrick Hall to an assembled crowd of 100–150 students. The crowd sang “We Shall Overcome.” The college at that point held seven companies with South African business, at a market value of $12.2 million — 14.6% of an $83.3 million endowment. Rather than full divestment, the Trustees adopted a Sullivan Principles-based selective investment policy. A new group, “Students and Faculty for Divestment” (distinct from H.O.P.E.), formed in response. Key figures: Mike Rothenburg ‘86 (outside media spokesperson), Rob Baron ‘87. Trustee Milt Walters publicly labeled the decision “final.” (The Spectator, March 10, 1986)

• “Hit and run” sit-in at Communications & Development office (March 13, 1986). Approximately 60 students staged a brief sit-in in the Communications and Development office in the basement of McEwen Hall on March 13, 1986 — four days after the Trustee refusal. Rob Baron ‘87 was quoted in coverage. (The Spectator, March 14, 1986)

• April 1986 sit-ins in administrative buildings: On April 4, 1986 — Martin Luther King Jr. memorial — protesters staged a march and attempted a sit-in in administrative buildings but found Buttrick Hall locked. On April 8, approximately 80 students staged a sit-in at the Admissions office. Carovano publicly threatened disciplinary action against participants. (The Spectator, April 11, 1986)

• Physical Plant demolishes shanties (late April/early May 1986): Physical Plant workers using sledgehammers demolished the campus shanties at night, with VP O’Leary and Physical Plant Director Art Jewett supervising. The shanty at the Alexander Hamilton statue was demolished first (around 7:30 pm), then the shanty at the Afro-Latin Cultural Center, then the shanty at McEwen circle where approximately 15 protesters locked arms. A worker entered each shanty and swung the sledgehammer as a warning before demolishing it. Several students were injured. President Carovano, VP O’Leary, Dean Jervis, and Dean Endy were all present and called off workers before the McEwen shanty was fully demolished. Approximately ten faculty members also appeared in solidarity; Prof. Peter Rabinowitz called the removal “ill-advised.” (The Spectator, May 2, 1986)
• Racist harassment documented (fall 1986): The college publicly acknowledged “incidents of racist hatred toward last semester’s divestment protesters,” which prompted the formation of a Committee on Cultural Affairs and a National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI) prejudice-reduction workshop, scheduled for February 21–22, 1987. (The Spectator, October 3, 1986)

• Hamilton for Divestment (HFD) launches fall 1986 campaign (September 1986). Students had renamed their primary organizing group Hamilton for Divestment (HFD) by fall 1986. During Trustee Weekend in late September, HFD organized campus’s first teach-in of the fall semester, and three to five divestment supporters were scheduled to meet directly with the Investment Committee to present a new formal proposal. (The Spectator, September 26, 1986)

• Colgate divests (September 20, 1986): Colgate University divested on September 20, 1986 — directly cited in a fall 1986 Spectator article on the divestment debate — increasing pressure on Hamilton’s Board. (The Spectator, October 3, 1986)

• National corporate exodus (fall 1986): General Motors, IBM, Coca-Cola, Honeywell, and Warner Communications all announced withdrawal from South Africa; a major divestment debate was held on campus that fall. Carovano, speaking at the debate, compared apartheid unfavorably to the Holocaust — describing it as different from genocide — a characterization that triggered the November sit-in. (The Spectator, November 7, 1986; The Spectator, November 14, 1986)
• November “Babbitt sit-in” (November 12, 1986): A coalition of the Women’s Center, BLSU, Hamilton for Divestment (HFD), and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance staged an all-night sit-in at the Buttrick Hall business offices — later called the “Babbitt sit-in” in Spectator coverage. It was triggered by Carovano’s Holocaust comparison at the October divestment debate. The administration preemptively closed its offices at 3:30 pm; protesters arrived at 4:15 pm. At midnight, Max McGee (new Dean of Students) told protesters to leave. A temporary restraining order was issued Thursday at 1:30 pm, naming four faculty members and 17 students. (The Spectator, November 14, 1986)
• Twelve students suspended (November 1986): Twelve students were suspended for the winter and spring terms 1987 and given 48 hours to leave campus: Gur Melamede ‘88, Brad Albert ‘88, Greg Shin ‘87, Demetri Orlando ‘87, Cathleen Perry ‘89, Molly Mysliwiec ‘87, Jake Callard ‘87, Amy Rozgonyi ‘87, Julie Jones ‘88, Johnette Traill ‘88, Michael Tillman ‘88, and Michelle Paninos ‘88 (plus one alumnus who stayed). An emergency faculty meeting spent more than two hours questioning the process and the appropriateness of the sanction. The Student Assembly criticized the decision; a student strike of campus jobs was threatened. President Carovano defended Dean Jervis’s authority and argued J-Board proceedings were too slow. (The Spectator, November 21, 1986)
• Federal lawsuit (early 1987): The twelve suspended students filed a federal lawsuit in Albany district court, represented by attorney Michael Korinsky. The suit raised three claims: (1) constitutional due process violation under the 14th Amendment; (2) Hamilton failed to follow its own regulations; (3) racial discrimination. The suit was known in Spectator coverage as connected to the “Babbitt sit-in.” (The Spectator, February 13, 1987)
• Trustee Investment Advisory Committee formed (March 1987): Trustee Chair William Bristol announced that the Trustee Investment Committee had established a student/faculty advisory body to review Hamilton’s South Africa holdings. Two student representatives had been suspended, leaving only Scott Laidlaw and Christopher Lynch; faculty representatives were German Prof. Joseph Malloy and History Prof. David Millar. Specific holdings identified: Schlumberger Ltd. (40,000 shares, approximately $1.5M value; non-signatory to Sullivan Principles), Chicago Pacific Corp. (IIIA Sullivan rating), and Ingersoll Rand (IIIB Sullivan rating). (The Spectator, March 6, 1987)
• Spring 1987 rally and demands for Carovano’s resignation: A spring 1987 rally at the Buttrick steps drew approximately 60 students presenting a 400-signature petition demanding Carovano’s resignation. Prof. Peter Rabinowitz spoke; Charles Hartness ‘88 cited the suspensions, the parallel Paiewonsky tenure case, and the Discourse controversy as a pattern of administrative disregard for procedure. The Jesse Jackson lecture (April 20, 1987, approximately 900 people, Alumni Gym) occurred in the same period and added to campus political energy. (The Spectator, April 24, 1987)

• CARA (Coalition Against Racism and Apartheid) speak-out and march (November 13, 1987). After the formal suspension year ended, CARA organized a speak-out and march on the steps of Buttrick Hall on November 13, 1987. Approximately 30–50 people attended. Alicia Ouelette ‘88 opened the program; speakers included Gur Melamede ‘88, Paul Coppola ‘88, and Sue Perry ‘88; faculty participants included Nancy and Peter Rabinowitz. Earlier that week, Tuli Makhene ‘91, a Black South African student, had addressed the campus. The event marked the formal continuation of organized divestment advocacy under the CARA name in the 1987–88 academic year. (The Spectator, November 20, 1987)

• CARA plants crosses during Trustee Weekend (March 1988). CARA placed numerous crosses across campus during the spring 1988 Trustee Weekend, each bearing the name of a dead South African political detainee or one of the 17 peaceful anti-apartheid organizations banned by the South African government that week. CARA member Charles Hartness ‘88 explained the triple purpose: commemorating the banning of the 17 organizations, raising awareness of political detainees’ deaths, and applying pressure on the Trustees as the only body with power to divest. President Carovano called the crosses “an appropriate significant expression of concern.” Hartness observed that CARA was less active than in prior years, attributing the decline to South Africa’s media ban reducing coverage and to the chilling effect of the 1986–87 suspensions. CARA was also planning to protest Kellogg’s products as a local corporate target. Gur Melamede ‘88, one of the “Hamilton 12,” was serving on the Presidential Search Committee. (The Spectator, March 4, 1988)

• Federal lawsuit closes; Second Circuit rules against students (June–October 1988). The Second Circuit Court of Appeals refused on June 28, 1988, to hear the suspended students’ remaining claims, effectively closing the federal court case. The students had argued that Hamilton was a “state actor” — because it had adopted, in 1969, disciplinary procedures pursuant to a New York State Education law — and that their suspension therefore violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause. The District Court had first dismissed the claims on July 21, 1987; the Second Circuit had revived a portion in October 1987, but the June 1988 ruling ended that avenue. Hamilton’s lawyer Edward Conan called it “an important issue not only for Hamilton but for all private colleges in New York State.” The students’ attorney, Michael Krinsky (spelled “Korinsky” in earlier coverage), was repeatedly unavailable for comment. (The Spectator, October 7, 1988)

• Student disciplinary proceedings followed for some participants in the sit-in

• Trustee rejection: The Board of Trustees said “no” to divestment and physically destroyed the student shanties — an act that became a landmark moment in Hamilton’s institutional memory of student-administration conflict
• National context: The campaign was part of a broad mid-1980s campus activism wave; by spring 1986, anti-apartheid shantytown protests had spread to dozens of campuses
• Legacy: The 1986–87 anti-apartheid campaign was explicitly cited as a precedent by Hamilton Divests (2012–2013) when that student group organized the fossil fuel divestment movement, invoking both the tactic of direct action and the institutional history of trustee refusal

Open Questions

• ~~What were the outcomes of the federal lawsuit filed by the twelve suspended students?~~ Resolved: Second Circuit ruled against students on June 28, 1988, closing the case.
• Did the Trustee Investment Advisory Committee’s review result in any changes to Hamilton’s South Africa holdings after 1987?
• How did the divestment campaign resolve — was it still active through 1989–1990, or did it wind down after 1987?
• What was Carovano’s response to the resignation petition and the broader fallout of the 1986–87 academic year?

Sources

Related Topics

• Student Activism and Social Movements
• Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement (2012–2013)
• College Administration and Presidential Leadership

Related Entities

• Hamilton College