Ad Hoc Slate Seeks Coop Quorum

A group of Harvard students concerned about the community role of the Harvard Co-operative Society plans to submit its own slate of candidates for Board of Directors at the annual meeting of participating Coop members on October 23.

The ad-hoc group believes that the Coop should have a social conscience and should assume a more constructive role in the community, Wesley E. Profit '69 said yesterday.

The group, organized by Profit and Steven P. Roose '70, has until Oct. 15 to submit its slate, which must be accompanied by a petition signed by 25 current Coop members. According to the by-laws of the Coop, the board of directors must include one M.I.T. and two Harvard grad students, and one Radcliffe, two M.I.T., and three Harvard undergraduates.

Possible Candidates

So far, the list of people who have agreed to be candidates includes Leslie F. Griffin '70, president of Harvard Afro; Joel R. Kramer '69, president of the CRIMSON; Profit, president of PBH; Tracy B. Strong teaching fellow in Social Studies; Barry F. O'Connell, tutor in History and Lit.; James E. Thomas, senior advisor to freshmen; and Thomas J. Cottle '59, lecturer on Social Relations. Roose said the final slate will represent a wide range of expertise and opinion.

Unless a quorum of five per cent of Coop members from Harvard-Radcliffe, M.I.T., and the Episcopal Theological Seminary attend the Oct. 23 meeting, the slate submitted by the ten Coop stock-holders will automatically be accepted for the year. Between 1400 and 1500 will have to attend the meeting to assure balloting for the new slate, Roose said yesterday.

The annual meeting is traditionally held in Harvard Hall 1, with about 30 people attending, but because of renovation, it is now scheduled for Sever 15, which holds only 80 people.

"Nothing to Hide"

John G. Morrill, general manager of the Coop, said yesterday, "If these kids intend to try for a quorum, I wish they'd come in and tell us. So far all we've had is rumor. We're certainly not attempting to keep anyone from running, but if 1500 people try to jam into Sever 35, it will look as if we're keeping them out and we're not. We have nothing to hide."

Profit said his group is not seeking a "dramatic confrontation" with the Coop. "We consider the new slate a way of making constructive changes in the society by using the established channels for change. Our concerns are radical only in the sense that 1500 people will be showing interest in improving the management of their co-operative society."

Although the new slate has not yet met as a group, profit said several suggestions have formed the basis for a platform. The proposals include investigation of:

* the possibilities for job training at the Coop, which would not only improve service but also enable employees to get jobs at other department stores.

* the Coop's hiring practices. Presently, very few blacks, Puerto Ricans, and Portuguese are employed at the Coop, according to Profit.

* the possibility of allowing Coop clerks to join a union, in order to give them greater bargaining power with management. Profit said that heretofore any attempt by an employee to organize his fellow workers has usually resulted in his dismissal.

* the Coop's investment policies. Some part of the Coop's capital could be shifted to such co-operative ventures as the Unity Bank and Trust Company in Roxbury.

* the Coop's attitude toward expansion. If the Coop is trying to go beyond the student market and become a regular department store, perhaps it should extend membership privileges to Cambridge residents, Profit said.

* the Coop's election policy. The new board of directors might re-evaluate the selection procedures for student members with an eye toward making them more representative.

Last Friday the Coop's stockholders met and nominated their 22-man slate for the coming year. The names will appear in tomorrow's CRIMSON.

Since 1882, there has been no serious attempt to unseat the stockholders' proposed slate, Morrill said yesterday. In 1964. Sheldon Dietz '41, owner of the now defunct Club 47, put forth a six-man slate of architects. His proposal aborted, however, since he did not have the architects' consent and failed to get anywhere near a quorum.

Roose and Profit said they plan to publicize the meeting and their slate with ads in the CRIMSON, fliers, and tables in the dining halls