HBS Afro Issues Policy Statement

The following statement was released Tuesday by the Harvard Business School Afro-American Society. The statement endorses the demands of Afro students at the College and asks that the Business School's Riot Plan "be immediately discarded."

We, the Black students of the Harvard Business School, feel compelled, because of the activities that have taken place at Harvard University, to respond to the position taken by the Student Association and the administration of the Business School. We had hoped that leadership would emerge from the white student body condemning the outrageous action taken by Mr. Pusey and his staff. Since that leadership has not come forth, we, as concerned citizens, cannot sit by complacently and not react to the way in which Harvard's administration conducted itself during the present crisis.

For this reason, we feel that it is absolutely necessary for us to take a position of fully endorsing the demands of our Black Brothers and Sisters across the River, especially:

* that Black students have sufficient autonomy to insure the establishment of a meaningful program in Afro-American studies;

* that Harvard cease its expansionary building program, until such time as the affected community, its local government, and the University can agree on a single, viable plan for relocation which would correct the abuses of the past;

* that the use of police should be clearly repudiated and that steps should be taken to insure that it does not happen again.

We further feel that the Business School's Riot Plan should be immediately discarded as it sets the stage for a possible duplication of the atrocious brutality which occurred last week. It is quite clear that the Riot Plan is a tool of the Business School administration to repress the Black students' inclination to fully express their indignation at some future decisions.

We also feel that the present governmental structure at Harvard should be changed to include students in the decision-making process in a direct, structural way and not in mere advisory capacities.

Finally, we would like to call upon the more enlightened element of the Business School, those who feel that businessmen have a higher role to play in this society than merely calculating a return on investment, to end the traditional isolation from the larger Harvard community and give a damn!