
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 15, 1990                   TAG: 9005150265
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

VMI LACKS POLICY ON INVESTMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA

Although many of Virginia's state-supported colleges and universities - including Virginia Tech - adopted policies during the 1980s that avoid investment in companies operating in South Africa, Virginia Military Institute has no policy regarding South African investment.

Concern at the University of Virginia helped prompt Gov. Douglas Wilder's directive Saturday that state agencies and institutions make no new investments in firms with South Africa ties and that agencies divest themselves of such holdings if they already have them, according to his press secretary, Laura Dillard.

At Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, the board of visitors adopted a new investment policy last year. At the time, the school held stock in three companies that did not comply with the policy, said David Nutter, a university spokesman.

In the past year, Virginia Tech has sold stock in one of the companies, and a second company has come into compliance with the policy, Nutter said.

The third company, although it still does not comply fully with the policy, has taken steps toward compliance, officials said.

Virginia Military Institute has no policy on investments in companies doing business in South Africa, said Col. Edwin Dooley, special assistant to the superintendent at VMI.

As a result, the school has never tracked the percentage of its $100 million endowment tied up in South African investments.

Dooley said the situation at VMI is complicated by the fact that a private organization, the VMI Foundation Inc., raises money and invests it on behalf of the institute.

"That in no way is to take the board of visitors out of the question but to emphasize the fact that investments are supervised by a private foundation," Dooley said.

The VMI board will meet Friday. Asked whether it might consider the governor's divestment order, Dooley said, "It's possible... but it's not on the agenda."

by CNB