Dirty Jobs Boycott Reaches Harvard

A group of student environmental activists announced yesterday that they hope to hurt corporate America where it counts--in human resources.

The national Dirty Jobs Boycott (DJB) asks students to refuse employment offers by corporations that abuse the environment.

The details of the boycott--such as which companies it targets--will be announced at ECOnference 2000, to be held at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in mid-October. The conference is a meeting of student environmental leaders from across the nation.

Shai R. Shay '01, who attended yesterday's press conference, said he will work to enlist Harvard students in the boycott.

Sahay is leading a group of about 15 students to ECOnference, even though Harvard's Environmental Action Committee (EAC) decided not to send a delegation.

Sahay hopes he and the others will gain tools that will help them spearhead the boycott at Harvard, as well as future environmental campaigns.

"[The conference] is a great opportunity for student activists to learn how to be activists," he said.

Students at the conference will announce 12 target companies for the boycott. The target companies will generally rely heavily on college recruiting.

The companies will also have been targets of international environmental groups, according to Antha N. Williams, who is a regional coordinator for ECOnference 2000.

It will be up to student leaders on each campus to promote the boycott.

Although it is a nationwide boycott, the Boston region is especially important because the high concentration of schools here attracts heavy corporate recruiting.

Sahay said Harvard students working on the boycott will e-mail seniors in the spring and set up tables outside the Science Center where seniors can sign the boycott petition.

However, the EAC will probably not participate in the boycott, said co-chair Gretchen A. Stevens '01.

"It's a question of where we put our resources. We are wary of being approached by outside groups," she said. "A lot of groups approach us because they want to have Harvard on their lists."

But Stevens, who participated in a similar petition last year, said she supports the boycott and believes it will draw attention to companies with poor environmental records.