CCSR Report Reviews Stock Policy

In its annual report on Harvard's investments, the Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (CCSR) this week formally announced two divestments of stock in South Africa-related companies which did not meet the University's standards for companies with operations in that country.

The CCSR, a subcommittee of the seven-man Corporation, Harvard's top governing body, also announced in Thursday's report:

* its responses to recommendations for changes in its investment policy forwarded by an advisory group,

* progress in implementing its program of "intensive dialogue,"

* and its votes on shareholder resolutions in the past year.

President Derek C. Bok previewed the CCSR's announcement of the two divestments last week in an open letter to the Harvard community.

Charged with overseeing the ethics of investments of Harvard's $2.5 billion endowment, the four-man subcommittee makes annual statements on issues pertaining to the morality of some companies in which Harvard invests. Subjects covered range from corporate conduct in South Africa to military contracts in this country.

The CCSR's report, its most comprehensive detailing of the University's investment responsibility efforts in recent years, comes during a period of increasing racial unrest in South Africa. In the most active protest issue on campus since the Vietnam War, students at Harvard have demanded for 15 years that the University sever its economic ties with companies operating in the apartheid state. Harvard owns $406 million in South Africa-linked stock.

As previewed in Bok's open letter one week ago, the Corporation announced it had divested of $2.8 million in stock of two companies, Allis Chalmers and Tokheim, which did not supply the CCSR with requested information

The Corporation requires South Africa-related companies to supply information proving they are adhering to the basic tenets of the Sullivan Principles, a set of standards for workplace and socialresponsibility