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From: knutsonk@stolaf.UUCP (Kari E. Knutson)
Newsgroups: net.college
Subject: Re: Apartheid
Message-ID: <4993@stolaf.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 20-Nov-85 11:19:38 EST
Article-I.D.: stolaf.4993
Posted: Wed Nov 20 11:19:38 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 21-Nov-85 05:31:20 EST
References: <4982@stolaf.UUCP> <4992@stolaf.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: St. Olaf College, Northfield MN
Lines: 51

> > Here at St. Olaf, we are attempting to get our Board of Regents to
> > divest all portions of the College's Endowment that are invested in
> > companies with holdings in South Africa. 
> > Kari Knutson
> > ...ihnp4!stolaf!knutsonk
> 
> I would just like to point out that not every student at St. Olaf
> is clamoring for divestment.  I for one think the whole issue
> is stupid.  What is the point?  Showing the world that St. Olaf
> College will not stand for oppression in the world?  Well, what
> about the oppression of the Afghans, the Poles, etc. by the Soviet Union?  
> What about the way the Marxist government of Ethiopia is letting
> its people starve to death (by failing to distribute the wealth
> the world is trying to share with them)?  My point is, if things
> are so bad in South Africa, why are so many blacks from other
> African nations trying to get into South Africa?  
> I'm not saying I'm in favor of apartheid--I think it's terrible.
> But I don't understand the people who cry "U.S. out of Central America" 
> and then turn around and declare that the U.S. MUST intervene in South Africa.
>                                           ------------------------------
> Valerie Skala                             |  If I can't do cartwheels, |
>  . . . !ihnp4!stolaf!skala                |  I don't want to go.       |
>                                           ------------------------------

Looks like my article has served its purpose--generated discussion.
I guess I'll have to say explicitly that I don't suffer from the
delusion that I speak for all of the students at St. Olaf. 
However, since I haven't (lately) seen any "Don't Divest" rallies,
I decided to speak about the active role we can play (divestment)
rather than the passive one (non-divestment). While I support the 
action of divestment, I meant this to generate discussion, not to
say that every one should think like me. And I want to know what
the prevailing sentiment is at other colleges and universities on
the net.

> I am simply getting tired of the "Bitch America" sentiment that seems
> so prevalent at St. Olaf.
> .... The U.S. may have problems, that [but?] we are still better off 
> 3/4's of the rest of the world.

I am not part of the "Bitch America" faction here, which by the way,
I have not come in contact with. I love my country and wouldn't trade
it, but I feel we have a responsibility to the rest of the world,
precisely because we are "better off than 3/4's."
My future lies here in this country but I am still not willing to
accept blindly the values we display to the world. Americans consume
a disproportionate amount of the world's resources, and as such need
also to display less of an "America First" attitude.

Kari Knutson
...inhp4!stolaf!knutsonk