Make ACSR Listen

WHEN THE Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (ASCR) announced three weeks ago its intention to hold an open meeting tonight, members of the committee were proud of making a move they seem to consider daring. And tonight's meeting does mark the first time the committee has explicitly invited students to stick their noses into ACSR and Corporation business since the memorable events of 1978, when pressure by the then-active and broad-based Southern Africa Solidarity Committee (SASC) brought about a crowded and lengthy meeting on the divestiture issues.

But, unfortunately, any nightmares ACSR and Corporation members may be having about a reenactment of the noise, marches and discomfort of that spring will probably remain fuzzy and fearful speculation. SASC activity and support have decreased drastically over the past two years, and reaction to events on the investment-policy front has become increasingly lukewarm.

The regrettable reality is that investment issues--from South Africa, nuclear weapons research and corporate expansion in Chile to the contents of baby formulas--have become more and more thoroughly institutionalized since President Bok's 1972 creation of the ACSR and the Corporation's reluctant April 1978 release of its official report on investment issues.

The Corporation placated some with its decision to sell its holdings in banks extending loans to the South African government, but it continues skillfully to dodge direct confrontation over its $300-million-worth of stock in companies that do business in or with South Africa. It is not kidding anybody but itself. Conditions for Blacks in South Africa are no better now than they were three years ago.

The Corporation must not heed Citibank's cries that the $250-million loan it made to the government last fall--which led to Harvard's sale of $50-million-worth of Citibank notes and securities--went to "humanitarian" causes and should spark a reexamination of Harvard's policy. We continue to advocate total divestiture of all investments in banks lending money to the South African government or companies operating with or in South Africa.

Meanwhile, the ACSR wallows in a mound of bureaucracy that threatens to swamp it because the committee is obliged by the Corporation's cowardly policy to consider resolutions on an ad hoc basis.

The ACSR has very little real power. Corporation response to ACSR recommendations--often formed with the best of intentions--has historically been pitiful. But the ACSR has officially invited all who are interested to knock on its door tonight and make their opinions known. The offer is no more than a morsel, and, if we expect the beliefs of the student body ever to reach the Corporation and have an effect on its policy decisions, a morsel, no matter how tasty, will not do the trick. Nevertheless, experience shows that if the Corporation responds at all on the investment question, it responds to the combined efforts of students in and outside the system. We urge all members of the University to attend tonight's open meeting at 8 p.m. in Harvard Hall, to educate each other and the members of the ACSR on issues that Harvard must force its Corporation to consider seriously. If enough groups and individuals show up tonight, the ACSR's open meeting idea may turn out to be a meaningful move--maybe even a bold one--after all.