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THE UNIVERSITY, through its holdings in Middle South Utilities Inc., has a moral responsibility to the people of Arkansas to ensure that their lives and their environment are protected. It is a responsibility which cannot be ignored.

As the consortium's largest single shareholder, Harvard has the power and the authority to influence Middle South's decisions on a controversial, 2800-megawatt, coal-burning power plant that Arkansas Power and Light, a Middle South subsidiary, wishes to inflict upon the Arkansas River, the air and the agricultural community near White Bluffs.

If the University feels it can better direct the octopus of corporate America by grasping portions of its tentacles, as it has indicated in the past, the burden of preventing that animal from strangling the land and its people rests in Harvard's hands.

The issues in this conflict have been well delineated by the Arkansas Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN), a citizen's action group representing 4500 low- to moderate-income families in that state.

In an era of increasing environmental awareness, the plant will have no environmental controls. The plan, say utility officials, is to burn only low-sulfur coal--a resource that press reports have indicated is in increasingly short supply.

The coal would therefore have to be obtained by strip mining areas of Montana and the Federal National Grasslands in Wyoming--a relatively inexpensive but environmentally devastating procedure.

If strip-mining is prohibited, it is likely that Middle South, crying energy crisis, will obtain variances from clean air standards to burn lower grade coal.

The effects of high levels of sulfur dioxide, given off by low grade coal, on farmland are well-documented; areas have suffered soil fertility decreases of 20 to 30 per cent from these emissions. The effects on health are less clear, but appear to be cause for concern.

ACORN's requests are undeniably reasonable. It asks that Harvard, as an institution with enormous research, educational and financial resources, and as a major power in the corporation which threatens the livelihoods of its members, study the situation carefully and make its voice heard. It asks that the University ensure that damages inflicted upon the farmers be compensated for by the utility without the massive red tape usually involved in these types of proceedings.

In short, it asks that Harvard prevent corporate America's ravenous appetite for power from swallowing the powerless.

Tonight, students at large will be given the opportunity to be heard on the issue. Their voices, one would hope, will ask loudly for the University's help.

But the final decision will rest with Harvard. The issues are clear. The University must accept the responsibility of its financial involvement, and honor the requests that this involvement has brought.