Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1978 [PAGE 652]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1978]

UNIVERSITY OF ILIJNOIS

639

submitted by religious organizations. T h e proposal was supported by 4.77 percent of the stockholders. T h e text of the proposal was: Whereas the repressive nature of the South African government continues to attract the attention and concern of individuals and organizations throughout the world; Whereas our bank has made loans to that government and its stateowned corporations in recent years; Whereas such loans serve only to undergird the regime and facilitate its repression of the black majority; Whereas one response to this situation has been the call for withdrawal of accounts from offending banks by individuals and organizations, including the National Council of Churches and United Auto Workers; Whereas for a variety of social and financial reasons many international, national, and regional banks, including European-American Banking Corporation, Algemene Bank Nederland, Chase Manhattan, First Bank of Pennsylvania, and Maryland National Bank have stopped making loans to South Africa or greatly restricted the types of loans being m a d e ; and Whereas such loans are not essential for this bank's survival, but are essential for the survival of the white minority regime in South Africa; Therefore Be It Resolved that the shareholders request the Board of Directors to establish the following as corporate policy: Neither the Corporation nor its affiliates or subsidiaries shall make any new loans or renew any old loans to the government of the Republic of South Africa or to any of its agencies or instrumentalities or to any companies for their operations in that land, unless or until the system of apartheid has been dismantled and meaningful steps have been taken in the direction of majority rule. The reasons given by the religious organizations for proposing the resolution were: In June of 1976 the world was shocked by the shooting of unarmed school children in the streets of Soweto. Events in South Africa since that time have demonstrated that the repression in Soweto was not an aberration from, but rather consistent with the viciously enforced policy of, apartheid. The last two years have brought arrests, bannings, and more deaths. During these years, our bank has continued to have financial dealings with South Africa. Our loans to the South African government have not helped the black majority. T o the contrary, at a time when South Africa is becoming increasingly isolated on the international scene, these loans have said to the white minority that it has friends it can count on in the West. These loans have helped to maintain and strengthen the white minority in its ruthless suppression of the black majority. We believe that our bank should join the other banks, large and small, U.S. and European, that have decided that South Africa is no longer a good risk financially or morally. We call upon our bank to cease its apartheid loans. On April 18, 1978, the comptroller sent the attached letter to Bankamerica."

1 The letter printed at the end of this report is identical with other letters sent and referred to, but not printed, in this report.