How divestment helped stop apartheid in South Africa

The death of Nelson Mandela is being mourned around the world — including university campuses where students, faculty and staff fought the apartheid in South Africa through disinvestment. In 1982, the University of Maine became one of the first 10 universities in the country to completely divest from country. Philosophy professor Douglas Allen was one of those people who ultimately convinced the board of trustees to pull its $1.9 million from South Africa.   

“It was a difficult argument, and it took years of work, research, providing all the documentation, lobbying,” he says.  

Click the above audio player to hear more from Douglas Allen about university divestment efforts amid the anti-apartheid movement.