After watching their foe bow out of the fight, members of Northwestern’s Prison Moratorium Project are unsure what their next move will be.

The group, whose basic intention is to investigate and act upon findings concerning the relationship between America’s prisons and communities, held a nearly yearlong protest against NU food provider Sodexho for its involvement with private prisons. The struggle ended May 30 when Sodexho’s parent company, Sodexho Alliance, sold its stake in the Corrections Corporation of America.

But PMP members said the realization of one goal will not end their mission to tackle issues of criminal justice.

“It’s not like Sodexho Alliance divested from private prisons across the board,” group member Ryan Murdock said. “They still have investments in other private prisons in Europe and Australia.”

But although Murdock, a Speech junior, said he is sure PMP will continue its work, he is not certain what the group’s focus will be in the coming year.

“We’re not going to totally abandon keeping up with Sodexho, but we are looking at other things,” Murdock said.

Serving NU since 1997, Sodexho, formerly known as Sodexho-Marriott Food Services, came under fire last year from groups at universities nationwide, including then newly formed PMP. Despite its small size, the group devoted a great deal of time to researching the company and meeting with its representatives, Murdock said.

He called Sodexho Alliance’s decision a relief but not a surprise.

“They had said they were planning to do it, but had been going around in circles with it,” he said. Murdock cited U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules as a major factor in the company’s ability and willingness to divulge stock information.

The company chose to sell its stocks in CCA after it determined the investment was “no longer in line with its strategic objective,” said Sodexho Alliance Chairman Pierre Bellon in a statement released by the company.

Sodexho Alliance maintains that it held 8 percent of CCA’s stock, a minority stake in the company, according to Sodexho spokeswoman Sarah Cody. But PMP co-founder Gwen Kemper said Sodexho Alliance was the largest investor in CCA, although Sodexho wasn’t fully acquired by Sodexho Alliance until after the stock had been sold.

Kemper, a Weinberg senior, said she was not taken aback by the decision, as she had been watching Sodexho Alliance’s stocks suffer because of public pressure and market issues.

To Murdock, the company’s reasons seemed obvious. While he said he would like to believe the company’s choice had been fueled by ethics, he said it was probably a matter of dollars and cents.

“My honest opinion is that the reason why Sodexho Alliance sold CCA is because it wasn’t profitable,” Murdock said.

He added that he felt the work of PMP and similar groups also factored into the decision.

“Public pressure played a part in getting it out in the open and getting people to talk about it,” he said.