Twenty-seven years ago this week, The Amherst Student reported that the Amherst College South Africa Support Committee planned to demonstrate against the system of apartheid in South Africa. Amherst students reiterated demands made earlier that year "in a demonstration on the Amherst Commons, a petition drive on campus and a teach-in," according to The Student. The students' first plan of action was to demand the immediate divestment of all holdings, but after serious deliberation and discussion with faculty members, students made the decision to follow a two-step plan. The students demanded that Amherst trustees "first take a stand against U.S. corporate presence in South Africa" and later, if no response was made, "divest of holdings in these corporations."

In addition to the teach-in, the Support Committee began to circulate petitions insisting that the College "commit itself to the goal of withdrawal from South Africa of those corporations in which it own[ed] stock," reported The Student. According to Jonas Pontusson '78, a member of the Support Committee, the main difference between the trustees' view and the view of the Committee was that "the trustees believe[ed] corporations [could] work to change Apartheid from within South Africa," whereas the Support Committee contended that this was impossible.

The Support Committee expressed its opinion that the discrimination caused by apartheid was deeply cemented in the country's economy and society. According to a statement made by Pontusson, "corporations [were] very limited in their ability to help blacks because [they were] tied to the socio-economic structure and [were required to] follow the laws of the country; apartheid [was] supported by these laws, it [was] the law."

Members of the General Motors directors' board issued the Sullivan Statement in which they stated that their hiring and wage policies did not affect apartheid. Arguments against the Sullivan Statement held that the Statement's mission to obtain equal pay for equal work was fruitless. In spite of these conclusions, many trustees (most of whom were corporate executives at the time) accepted the Sullivan Statement. One of the goals of the Amherst College South Africa Support Committee was to sway the opinion of the trustee board.