A Momentous Move

SPRING IN Harvard Yard is unmistakable: trees begin to blossom, students spill out of the libraries to lounge in the sun, and a handful of pro-divestiture activists mount their yearly vigil outside the Faculty Club, inside which the Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (ACSR) weighs the ethics of Harvard's investments.

But while such annual traditions are a soothing indication of continuity, familiarity can--and often does--breed contempt. In particular, the campus divestiture movement has long been in danger of blending too smoothly into the spring landscape. Since the massive divestiture rallies of 1978 and 1979, which brought as many as 3000 students into the streets of Cambridge, the movement has been unable to sustain its momentum. President Bok's reiteration of his opposition to divestiture in 1979 brought the issue to a stalemate, which has been all but unbreakable. Since then, divestiture protests have dwindled in both size and intensity. Most important, campus South Africa activists have fallen increasingly into a reactive rather than an active role, usually responding to established events such as ACSR votes.

Today's anti-apartheid rally, however, is a bold effort to move beyond the stalemate of protest-open letter, point-counterpoint. The organizers of the rally, which will feature such tested crowd-drawers as Jesse Jackson and Mel King, expect it to bring as many as 5000 to the Yard. And while the speakers will address the broader questions of apartheid and U.S. South Africa policy, the demonstration will undoubtedly take on the question of Harvard's South Africa-linked investments. The event, moreover, is certain to win extensive local and national coverage. That attention could potentially galvanize born students and alumni to direct new pressure toward Bok and the Corporation for divestiture.

CAMPUS ACTIVISTS, then, are effectively upping the ante in the ongoing divestiture debate, and this move could bring results. National anti-apartheid organizers were pursuing much the same tactics when in November they launched a series of daily protests and arrests at the South African embassy Washington to draw attention to apartheid and to U.S. policy toward that country. Those protests have propelled South Africa to the forefront of current foreign policy debate and have helped to win bipartisan Congressional support for proposed economic sanctions against South Africa.

Although today's rally is a more modest undertaking, it is an important sign that divestiture organizers realize that vigilance is not enough. Instead, activists must stave off campus complacency with new, aggressive tactics. The establishment of the Endowment for Divestiture two years ago was an example of such a new approach, and one which has proved effective in gaining support. Today's mass rally marks another fresh assault on the established patterns of the movement. The issue deserves nothing less.