Open Meeting on Bank Policy Tonight

Tonight students won't have to march, chant or demonstrate to let University officials know how they feel about Harvard changing its investment policy towards South Africa. Instead, they will be able to speak directly to the committee that advises the Corporation on ethical questions in investment policy.

An open meeting of the Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (ACSR)--scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Emerson 105--will be the first formal opportunity for students to present their views on whether the University should lift its automatic ban on leaving money in banks making loans to South Africa.

Student members of the ACSR said a large turnout at the open meeting might help sway alumni and faculty against the proposed change in policy.

The committee will listen to at least 33 individuals--some representing groups such as the Law Guild and their Southern African Solidarity Committee (SASC)--who have officially signed up for five-minute speaking slots.

But although the ACSR had tried to set aside some time for unscheduled speeches, Candace R. Corvey, secretary to the committee, said this week that because of the large number of sign-ups, there is "no way that people who have not gotten on the agenda will have a chance to speak."

Last January, Corporation Member Hugh Calkins '45 asked the ACSR to reconsider Harvard's automatic ban on South Africa loans, enacted in 1978 after months of student protest. "We do think there may be such a thing as 'good loan' to an arm of the South African government," he wrote in a private letter to Walter J. Salmon, Roth Professor of Retailing at the Business School and chairman of the committee.

Calkins and other University officials have said that the request to end the blanket policy on loans stems from criticism over Harvard's disclosure last February of the sale of $51 million of loans and certificates in Citibank, whose parent company had made loans to South Africa for apparently humanitarian purposes.

"Citibank was annoyed and the University was embarrassed that we didn't even look at the nature of the loan," said George Putnam '49, treasurer of the College.

But student members of the ACSR join SASC in opposing all loans to the South Africa government on the grounds that the loans help facilitate the country's policy of apartheid.

And yesterday local expert on South Africa said that any distinctions between different loans to South Africa are "forced." Making so-called humanitarian loans "is like saying if the Nazis are going to bump off the Jews, let's make it a little more comfortable," said Kenneth N. Carstens, head of the Cambridge-based International Defense and Aid Fund for Southern Africa.

Student members did not speculate on what the committee would ultimately recommend to the Corporation.

The committee plans to meet in a closed session next Thursday to discuss what advice it will give the Corporation, but it is uncertain whether the issue will come to a vote, Corvey said