Although divestment was not a major focus at the recent Board of Trustees meeting, Chairman Jim Dresser raised the issue at the Board’s otherwise confidential Executive Session. The trustees will begin to look into the possibility for divestment in the coming months, but details of how the investigation will be conducted are still in the works.

“I have not formed…a working group yet [to investigate divestment], but I hope the group can meet with students once before winter break,” Dresser told the Argus in an e-mail.

Students for Ending the War in Iraq (SEWI), the WSA and several trustees are currently trying to find a time to meet in upcoming weeks.

According to a WSA report from the Board of Trustees meeting, Dresser made it clear that, although he and many other trustees are personally opposed to the war in Iraq, the Board still needs to seriously consider and discuss divestment before making a decision.

“The board agreed that we need to understand better the facts about our investments in weapons contractors in general, and Raytheon and General Dynamics in particular,” Dresser wrote.

Currently, Dresser is communicating with trustees via e-mail to continue the discussion on divestment that was started at the meeting. According to President Michael Roth, the board is working as fast as they can to begin an investigation without compromising the quality of their research.

“The trustees have already begun talking about [divestment], and the speed with which trustees have decided to address the issue is a good sign of how seriously we are taking it,” he said.

Before raising the issue of divestment at the Executive Session, Dresser met with SEWI to go over their proposal. Roth, WSA President Matt Ball ’08, Vice President Emily Malkin ’08 and Finances and Facilities Committee Chair Becky Weiss ’10 also attended.

SEWI members felt the meeting was a success.

“We were really happy after the meeting,” Lucas Guilkey ’10 said. “We thought that [Dresser] sincerely listened to us.”

Divestment will likely be a topic of conversation at the Board of Trustees meeting in February.

“I expect that [divestment] is something that the board will take up in a more open and sustained discussion,” Roth said. “We need to think about what it means for Wesleyan to engage in politics through our investments, and also what it means to be a socially responsible institution.”