As one of his first decisions in office, President Skorton announced this week that Cornell will selectively divest from Sudan in response to the genocide in Darfur. Since 2003, the Sudanese government has supported the so-called janjaweed militia in Darfur (comprised mostly of Arabs), in their campaign of rape and murder against mainly non-Arab tribespeople. The Sudanese government derives most of its revenue from oil. Skorton has therefore decided to bar investments of the Univeristy’s endowment assets in oil companies currently operating in Sudan.

We applaud the president’s decision — not only for its specific message but also for the process by which he decided to send it.

College campuses nationwide have been providing the impetus behind the movement to stop the slaughter in the region. According to a 2005 article by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, more than 100 colleges have raised money for the fund www.genocideinterventionfund.org. Harvard, Brown, Columbia, Yale, Stanford and the entire University of California system have implemented divestment plans.

Several states have done so as well — sadly, New York not among them. It’s time they both joined the list; and Cornell, with its four state-funded colleges, makes for a great start.

This is not to say that the divestment in play here represents a huge blow to the Sudanese economy. 2005 financial statements show that Cornell had about $800,000 tied up in companies that support Sudanese oil production, namely the Russian oil giant Tatneft. Representing only .02 percent of Cornell’s $4 Billion endowment, the University’s support for the oil companies was not nearly as strong as comparable institutions’: Harvard, for example, had $4 million in PetroChina alone.

Regardless, it truly accomplishes what President Skorton set out to do: “send an unequivocal message to the oil companies about the impact of their own actions in the crisis.” And that message was consistent with the desires of the Cornell student body.

When asked why Skorton made Sudanese divestment a priority, he said that it was inspired by a May 4 story in The Sun about student activist groups working to end the genocide in Darfur. From there he figured out the feasibility of a possible Cornell divestment from a report executed by the University’s investment office, based on reports from other universities.

This marks a change in attitude toward student activism from the University’s last president, Jeffery S. Lehman ’77. President Skorton started responding to Cornell’s student activists even before he took his oath of office. He was listening and acting on students’ needs in Ithaca while still in Iowa. Even when activists were sitting in Lehman’s office, they were not taken this seriously.

When his presidency was announced, Skorton was asked if he would be doing his own version of former President Lehman’s Call to Engagement. Skorton said he liked the idea, but did not think it was necessary. We can’t help but agree; he’s already engaged.

Clearly, Skorton’s school year has gotten off to a very good start. We wish you all comparable success as you start classes today.