Student Activism at Gettysburg

1990: Students Take Action to Protest Apartheid

In March 1985, the Student and Faculty Coalition Against Apartheid (SFCAAP) posted signs saying "No Whites Allowed" around campus to raise awareness of the discrimination faced by black people in South Africa under apartheid and to protest the college's investments in South African companies. This demonstration, led by Toan Van Tu '87, effectively caught people's attention and began a campus debate on the issue. A significant number of faculty and students took issue with the signs and tore them down, or submitted letters to The Gettysburgian​. Despite this hostility, Tu and the other members of SFCAAP continued to speak out for those adversely affected by Apartheid, and attended an anti-Apartheid conference in New York City on November 1, 1985. 

In 1989, another student group, Salaam, was created as a sub-committee of the Social Justice Committee. Their main focus was to convince the college to divest its funds in South Africa as an official means of protest. After five months of campaigning and meeting with various branches of college administration, the Board of Trustees voted to divest all of its funds (5.4 million dollars) from South Africa. 

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