ACORN Asks 18 Additional Colleges To Help Fight Arkansas Power Plant

The Arkansas Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN) this week asked 18 colleges and universities that own stock in Middle South Utilities Inc. to join its fight against a proposed power plant near Pine Bluff, Ark.

ACORN sent letters Monday to the 18 institutions, asking them to put pressure on Arkansas Power and Light, a Middle South subsidiary, to install sulfur dioxide emission controls on the proposed plant's smokestacks.

ACORN also asked the colleges and universities to consider providing expert advice for an independent economic and environmental impact statement on the plant.

The community group also wrote President Bok last week, saying the 18 institutions "would be good allies in the efforts we have requested of Harvard concerning the AP&L plant."

ACORN asked Harvard, the largest single stockholder in Middle South with 560,000 shares yesterday worth $8.7 million, to help oppose the plant last November.

The Advisory Commission on Shareholder Responsibility commissioned a study on the plant and will decide within the next two months whether to recommend that Harvard actively support ACORN.

ACORN also asked Princeton University, Middle South's second largest university stockholder, last week to join the fight against the plant.

The 18 colleges and universities ACORN appealed to this week, and their stock holdings in Middle South as of January 1, 1971, are: Institution  Shares Northwestern University  50,994 Cornell University  40,000 University of Michigan  39,602 Columbia University  25,508 Vanderbilt University  24,000 Emory University  20,000 Williams College  17,413 Swarthmore College  17,142 Pomona College  15,000 Tulane University  13,500 University of Illinois  11,000 Rochester Institute of Technology  10,000 University of Virginia  9,937 University of Wisconsin  8,400 Brown University  5,200 Clark University  4,000 University of Pennsylvania  1,600 Syracuse University  800 University of North Carolina  468