PHOENIX (AP) – The board overseeing Arizona’s three public universities on Monday ordered their presidents to sell any Russian investments they hold as quickly as possible as they wage an ongoing war against Ukraine.
The board “strongly condemned Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of the sovereign nation of Ukraine and apparent attacks on the civilian population,” Chairwoman Lyndel Manson said in a statement. “With today’s action, the board rejects Putin’s aggression and secures Arizona’s public university company divests all Russian assets.”
The number of Ukrainians who have fled their country since Russia invaded has reached 1.7 million on Monday, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Russia launched its invasion on February 24th.
Presidents of Arizona State University, the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University told the board that they have suspended their schools’ programs with universities in Russia and that their foundations are selling any Russian assets they own.
Not much money is invested in Russia. The ASU Foundation has about $2.3 million in Russian assets, just 0.05% of its portfolio. The NAU Foundation has about 40% of its assets invested in non-US stocks, but only 0.01% of that was in Russian companies. And the UofA Foundation has $25 million in emerging market funds, 6% of which is invested in Russia.
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