New York University System to Sell Stock Linked to S. Africa

ALBANY, N.Y. —  Trustees of the nation’s largest university system today joined the growing movement to halt investment in businesses with ties to South Africa, voting to sell $11.5 million worth of stock in 13 companies.

The 9-4 vote by trustees of the State University of New York reversed an earlier decision. The resolution requires total divestiture within a year, saying that “conditions in South Africa have grown more grave with intensified violence and without significant reform measures . . . by the South African government.”

Several votes were swayed today by the argument that the university system could suffer economically by holding onto stock in companies operating in South Africa because of a “deteriorating economic and political situation” there.