Escrow Fund

To the Editors of The Crimson:

I disagree with your editorial urging seniors to donate their class gifts to the recently established escrow fund as a protest of University investments in companies doing business in-South Africa.

Though the sums involved are small, the decision of whether to contribute directly to Harvard is important I know many people feel strongly both ways, and I have talked at length with many of my friends and classmates about it because most of us, though we may not be as visible or as vocal as some, are genuinely morally concerned And after a lot of thought, I find that I do not support the escrow fund.

First, I am not convinced that giving to the fund best expresses my feeling on the matter Others may not but I do feel a strong moral obligation to contribute to Harvard directly Like many others in our class. I have received financial and during my four years here I want to help someone else next fall, just us I was helped four years ago. Again, it doesn't matter that the dollar figure will be comparatively small. I want to help some freshman next year, not five or ten or twenty years down the line (or maybe never, if the money is donated to charity). Funds in escrow won't buy books in September, and as a person who benefited from others good will. I feel obliged to assist someone now.

Second, I am not convinced that divesting stock in companies operating in South Africa is the best means to ending apartheid rule Everyone agrees that apartheid is disgusting, but owning stock is not the same as legislating segregation. The government of South Africa is clearly wrong, the companies doing business there face more complicated issues, like what will happen to their business if they pull out of the country, where their employees will go, how the nationals who depend on them for jobs, will get new ones. Yes, they are motivated by profit, but how many of us can deny the personal manifestation of that motive? Can Crimson editors who want to be CBS reporters? That the United Nations calls for divesting is no real help when I write the check, the U.N. has been wrong before. And how much sense does it may to emancipate an oppressed people by starving their economy? What's more, divestiture eliminates any leverage Harvard might have within a company. Editorialists and protesters may feel uncomfortable with or distrust power (perhaps not least because they have so little), but shares do mean voting power. The people who make decisions in companies are not only visible, but often have Harvard ties themselves. Not everyone in business is corrupt, just as not everyone in journalism is cynical, and working with corporate leaders to change the rules is, I think, much more moral and effective than quitting the fight.

As I say, I have done a lot of thinking about this question, and I understand the feelings of my escrow-supporting classmates. But I don't agree with their strategy. Frustrating it may be, but I can't do as much right now for South Africa as I can do for someone in the Class of '87. Of course I don't want the Corporation, or American companies, to behave unethically, but many things affect people who hold power, and I think it's better to have the opportunity to influence them than to yell at them I urge my classmates to contribute directly to Harvard. Jon Kenton '83