SASC Rally Planned for Friday

Harvard divestment activists will hold a Yard rally and a memorial service later this week as part of a week of national anti-apartheid protest.

In a memorial service tomorrow night, activists will pay tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. and Black South Africans, and will stage an anti-apartheid rally on Friday afternoon.

The rally is scheduled to fall on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr's assassination, a traditional day of divestment protest. Last year on April 4, 5000 people gathered in the Yard to hear Rev. Jesse Jackson denounce Harvard's investment policy.

While Southern Africa Solidarity Committee (SASC) organizers originally hoped to stage a rally to rival lastyear's event, they said that they changed theirfocus this week when they couldn't secure aspeaker with Jackson's national recognition.

SASC members estimated that 500 people will bepresent at the memorial service and the rally thefollowing day.

Professor of the History of Science Everett I.Mendelsohn, University of Massachusetts ProfessorChristopher J. Nteta--who as a divinity studentjoined in a 1972 protest against Harvard'sholdings in Gulf Oil--and Hogan Yancy, a DivinitySchool Merrill Fellow will speak at Friday'sprotest in front of Massachusetts Hall.

Following the 2:30 rally, activists will travelto Boston where they will join students fromschools throughout New England in an area-wideprotest against university South Africa-relatedholdings.

Thursday's Memorial Church service will featurespeeches from Divinity School professors andfollowing the service activists plan to hold acandlelight vigil and march down to the riverhouses.

Sunday night the activists decided to changethe form of the rally because of lack ofpreparation, said SASC member Jonathan A. Bromson'89. So the group opted to scale down the rallyand not spend the night outside President Derek C.Bok's office in protest as they have done inprevious years.

But SASC members said the small scale of thisweek's events will not reflect a slackening instudent interest in the divestment issue. "[Thedecision not to sleep outside] was based on theknowledge that in the coming weeks the SASC levelof activity will be increasing," said Jaron R.Bourke '88.

"This is a conscious effort not to just have arally," said Bromson. "The events on April 3 and 4are not the focal points [of this spring'sactivism]."

SASC members said that activism would continuethroughout the spring and into next September's350th celebrations