In recent weeks Marquette students have worked hard, in impressive numbers, to put an end to genocide in Darfur. It's been inspiring to see so many people volunteering their time to save the southern Sudan region from villainous and uncontrolled militias backed by the Sudanese government — and from the international apathy that has allowed the militias to flourish.

Now it's time for the next step: Marquette needs to join Harvard, Yale and a growing number of universities in divesting from Sudan.

What is divestment? It means pulling money out of a particular company or country — de-investing. It's a kind of boycott. In the past, divestment was used to punish companies that do business with unjust governments, as a way of pressuring the governments themselves.

In the 1980s, it helped bring an end to apartheid — the segregation and oppression of black South Africans — one of the great moral victories of the 20th century.

Divestment takes two forms; In one form, a company ceases all dealings with a government, which is what finally happened between American companies and South Africa.

In its other form, a large institution with big investments, for example, a college pulls money out of companies that have ties to a suspect government. Usually, the latter form of divestment brings about the former: Corporations respond to angry shareholders by stopping all their dealings with offending governments. This is where Marquette comes in.

Marquette University does not invest in any corporations that do business directly with the Sudanese government — the government that has enabled and encouraged the militias terrorizing Darfur. But, given the complex relationships among multinational corporations, it is all but certain that Marquette does have dealings with corporations working indirectly with the government of Sudan.

We need the board of trustees to publicly declare that they will divest from all companies that have any ties to Sudan, even indirect ones. Doing so will help cut off the flow of investment that enables the murder of Darfur.

More than that, divestment will allow Marquette University to live up to its own values. We can condemn the murderous Janjaweed militia of Darfur in ringing tones; but if we simultaneously support them, what good are we?

Divestment allows us a chance to practice what we preach, which is the best activist strategy of all.

Some will object that there are other governments as offensive as the government of Sudan, and that it's hypocritical to single out the Sudanese. And indeed, there are murderous regimes all over the world, some of them directly supported by the United States. But to do any good in this world, we must pick our battles. The movement to divest in Sudan is gaining ground, with three states and many colleges, including Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Brown and the 10-campus University of California system among them, having already done so.

A group headed up by Neal Styka ([email protected]) is now circulating a pro-divestment petition on Marquette's campus. I call on the entire Marquette community to sign it, as so many of us have already signed the Darfur Action Committee's petition that made the rounds in early April.