Seniors Agree to Work For Progressive Goals

Jobe Danganan '99 graduates in three weeks and had a big choice to make recently: a corporate offer in New York or a job at the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department.

The Civil Rights position paid half as much--but Danagan took it.

A new grass-roots campus campaign, urging seniors to sign a pledge to think seriously about the "social and environmental consequences" of the jobs they accept, helped make up Danagan's mind.

The campaign's organizers--an adhoc committee of about 10 students, including Danganan--have been e-mailing a "senior pledge" to personal and student group mailing lists in an attempt to sway the entire graduating class to consider the social ramifications of their careers and the companies they join.

As of last Thursday, 56 seniors have expressed interest in the pledge and will be sent packets containing pledge sheets, as well as green ribbons to be worn on Commencement day.

Mariko L. Yono '99, a member of the organizing committee, said wearing the ribbon is a sign of solidarity between people who believe in the pledge's ideals.

"I take it as a symbolic reminder," Yono said.

Yono, who plans to go into community organizing or public interest work, will be heading off to Costa Rica to work with a women's organization after graduation.

Organizers said the pledge is for people pursuing all kinds of professions--from future Peace Corps members to investment bankers.

"The idea is not necessarily that we're all going to be purists," Yono said.

"This is open to everyone," Danganan said. "You can be socially responsible in a corporate firm."

The pledge is non-binding, noted the committee's sophomore representative Gretchen A. Stevens '01, so no one will be checking up on seniors to make sure they follow through.

"It's just kind of a pledge to yourself," Stevens said.

The pledge is open to personal interpretation--Stevens said seniors may take a job and decide to work within the organization to encourage socially responsible policies, or they might decline a position altogether based on the company's practices.

Manchester College initiated the senior pledge more than a decade ago, and the idea has gained momentum ever since.

Graduate student Stephen Stose, who himself took the pledge as a senior at Manchester, first alerted Harvard students to the idea earlier this year. Stose contacted several student leaders via e-mail, asking them to bring the pledge to the attention of Harvard seniors. Stose is working with students at other Boston-area colleges, such as Tufts, MIT and Brandeis, to spark a city-wide movement for the pledge.

The Harvard group plans to make its major push during senior week when representatives will be tabling at Quincy and Cabot Houses. Organizers will be handing out pledge sheets and ribbons to seniors during breakfast and lunch.

"We're trying to be low pressure because we don't want people to feel bad about doing it," Stevens said. "But at the same time we want to give everyone the opportunity to do it if they want to."

Will the pledge catch on? Stevens says she will sign it when she graduates--but she is concerned about the pledge's future at Harvard.

"Hopefully we can keep it going over the next couple of years," Stevens said. Unfortunately, experience warns that the pledge may lose steam over the years, she said.

"That's the problem with this sort of thing, it gets going one year and then it just sort of dies off," Stevens said.