In January 1986, a number of Dartmouth undergraduates formed the Committee to Beautify the Green and used sledgehammers to dismantle the shanties that had been erected in the center of the campus as part of a campaign to promote institutional divestment of South African assets. The timing of the "attack", as "The New York Times" and other media referred to it, was 3:00 am, and two Dartmouth students were sleeping inside one of the shanties when the sledgehammer attack began and were "awakened by the sound of hammers and glass shattering."