Bennett Is Sole Candidate For Ford Directors Board

George F. Bennett '33, Treasurer of Harvard College, is the only management nominee for a seat on the Board of Directors of the Ford Motor Corporation.

Since his name appears alone on the proxy statement, Bennett will almost surely be elected to the Board.

During the past year; two reports on Harvard finances - "Harvard and Money," issued by the University Committee on Governance, and the report of the Austin Committee on the University's relationship to corporate enterprise - have pointed to potential conflicts of interest in the Treasurer's office.

Bennett is not only Harvard's chief financial officer; he is also a member of the Corporation, managing partner of the State Street Investment Corporation, which handles the Harvard investment portfolio, and a member of the Boards of Directors of several companies.

Bennett was criticized last year for being on the Board of Directors of the Middle South Utilities Company, which has been under attack for its allegedly discriminatory hiring practices.

Last spring, after Harvard followed Bennett's advice and voted against the three Campaign GM resolutions, Bennett attacked Campaign GM as an attempt of "socialism to drive a wedge into the traditional American way of making business decisions."

This year Bennett will again help determine how Harvard votes its proxies in the second Campaign GM proxy battle.

A spokesman for Ford said yesterday that Bennett was chosen for a place on the 16-man Board because of his experience in investments and banking and because of his "social understanding and awareness."

"Any election to a Board these days takes into account how wide are a man's view of the world and his view of the corporation in society." the Ford spokesman said. "A man chosen must be judged to have a good conception of a corporation's role in society."

Discussing the probability of Bennett's election at the annual shareholders' meeting on May 13, the spokesman said, "Technically, stockholders can nominate someone else, but I can't imagine anyone being well-known enough to be able to win. Indeed," he added, "it's practically impossible, and I've never heard of its happening."

Graham T. Allison Jr., associate professor of Politics in the Kennedy School of Government and a co-drafter of "Harvard and Money," said yesterday, "I would not be against having the Treasurer on a Board of Directors in every instance, but I think it should be a definite policy decision. The manager of Harvard's portfolio should sit on Boards of Directors only when Harvard decides that is in its interest."

The Treasurer's office reported yesterday that Bennett is out of the country on a business trip until May and is unavailable for comment.