Structural Reform Plan Pushed by Campaign GM

The coordinators of last spring's Campaign GM are redirecting a new offensive in Washington.

John Esposito, part-time coordinator of the campaign and a lawyer at the Center for Study of Responsive Law, defines the new direction as "a focusing on the procedural aspects of the corporation rather than on specific issues."

The campaign's three proposals would:

Require the GM proxy statement to include candidates for the board of directors nominated by shareholders at large as well as by management.

Allow each of GM's three "constituencies"-employees, consumers, and dealers-to nominate a candidate for the board of directors.

Require the GM annual report to publish detailed information regarding company progress in auto safety, minority hiring, and non-polluting vehicle development.

The campaign hopes that this shift toward the structure of the corporation will attract greater support from GM's institutional shareholders. "One special change isn't going to take us far. We are getting to the structure of the corporation and how this structure affects policy making," Esposito said.

Campaign GM will begin organizing the Harvard campus in January. "We'll ask for an opportunity to meet with men other than Mr. Bennett." Mr. Esposito noted. "We hope to bring our proposals to the entire community, and this is why student support is so essential."

Last spring the Harvard Corporation cast its 287,000 stockholders' votes with GM management. George F. Bennett '33, Treasurer of Harvard College, is considered to have been influential in this policy decision.

When asked if he expects Corporation voting policy to change, Bennett said, "I don't care to comment. We issued a statement last year, which you have and I think we'll just have to stand on that statement."

However members of the campaign are hopeful. Phillip W. More. full-time coordinator of the campaign, said that he "expects to come back to Harvard and to rescind Harvard of its failure to follow the mandate of the students, faculty, and alumni."