Internships Created For South Africa Work

In a move to begin disbursing a $1 million South Africa-related fund created this fall by President Derek C. Bok, the University has established an internship program to place Harvard students in education and welfare organizations in the racially divided nation.

The nine-member faculty Committee on South Africa, created in October to manage the coffers, this week issued applications for the program, which marks the first of many projects that will make use of the fund, said committee member Margot N. Gill, associate director of the Office of Career Services.

It is unclear how much of the $1 million fund, which is to be spent during the next three years, will be allotted for the internship programs.

The committee has been in contact with various South African public health, legal aid, secondary and higher education and pre-school training organizations to arrange potential internships.

The committee earlier this fall decided to award a portion of the fund to the Harvard South African Fellowship Program, which will allow the program to increase the number of South Africans offered spots at Harvard from four to six.

Bok announced the $1 million fund in an open letter he wrote earlier this year. The letter, which was released during a particularly violent period in racially divided South Africa and when students began fall divestment protests, also announced that Harvard had selectively divested of stock in two companies involved in business in South Africa.

Student reaction to the $1 million fund and projects it will finance has been both hopeful and skeptical.

"The fund is an attempt to put a band-aid on what requires more major surgery. It can produce good things, but it side-steps the investment question the South Africa issue poses to the University," said Damon A. Silvers '86.

One Kennedy School of Government student will apply for an internship in his native Cape Town. The program "provides a scope for the individual to make a contribution. I believe it is crucial to turn sincere interests into meaningful contributions," said Denzil I. Kreisman.

Applications for the internship program are due in the Office of Career Services January 31. Gill said she cannot predict how many applications will be submitted, but that many people have expressed interest in the program.