Protesters, Tutu to Share Stage

As part of an alumni drive for divestiture, three candidates for positions on the University's Board of Overseers will join Nobel Peace Prize winner Bishop Desmond Tutu on stage Friday night at the Institute of Politics.

The three candidates, who are running as Alumni Against Apar-theid, will launch their campaign Friday when they submit petitions to the secretary of the Harvard Corporation nominating them for election to the Overseers.

John Plotz '69, Kenneth Simmons '54 and Gay Seidman '78 are running for posts on the largely ceremonial 30-member board which theoretically approves every action of the seven-man Harvard Corporation but meets only a few times each year and virtually rubber stamps the Corporation's decisions.

The three candidates will share the platform with Tutu, an outspoken critic of the South African government. "We hope to make a short speech as well," Plotz said.

Their campaign calls for the University to divest completely from all companies that do business in South Africa, said Plotz, who is a deputy public defender in San Francisco.

The anti-apartheid candidates are vying for three of five positions open annually. Overseers serve for six years and are elected by the 200,000 Harvard alumni.

The University's portfolio currently contains about $405 million invested in companies which have ties to South Africa.

"We are trying to get elected because we believe that the University policy of continued investment in South Africa is profoundly misguided," Plotz said.

"If the alumni can demonstrate that they too are appalled by Harvard's continued involvement in South Africa, that would nudge the University towards divestiture."

Ordinarily Harvard degree holders elect five members every year to the Board of Overseers for six-year terms from a slate of ten candidates proposed by the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA).

However, candidates who have collected 232 alumni signatures can add their names to the ballot according to the alumni association charter. "Certificate candidates are a normal part of the system, we have had them in the past," said Nancy O. Sanler, associate for human resourses at HAA.

The Alumni Against Apartheid candidates will turn in petitions signed by over 750 people to the Secretary of the Board of Overseers on Friday, Plotz said.

"We will also challenge President Bok to a debate on divestiture. We want to give the administration a chance to defend their position," Plotz said.

The Alumni Against Apartheid candidates said they are optimistic about their chances of being elected. "Although our sweeping the ballot is highly unlikely, one or more of us could easily be elected. The response to our campaign has been fantastic. There is clearly a very large group of alumni which does not support universities which support apartheid."

Fewer than 20 percent of all Harvard alumni vote in the Overseers elections each year, said Sanler.

The Alumni Against Apartheid hope to attract the attention of all of the alumni who do not ordinarily vote, said Tina E. Smith '83, a Graduate School of Education student and supporter of the three.

A current member of the Board of Overseers was not optimistic about the group's chances. "I don't think someone committed to a platform could be very effective. Most people voting for the Board of Overseers try to get diversity, so I doubt many people will vote for them," said Overseer Theodore Chase '34.

But Plotz said his campaign would add diversity. "We can serve the board of overseers in all capacities because we are all people very familiar with universities, and we have diverse interests outside of apartheid."

Simmons did graduate work at Harvard, Howard University and the University of California at Berkeley, and he is currently an associate professor of architecture at Berkeley. Berkeley.

Seidman, who was the first woman president of The Crimson, is currently a graduate student in sociology at Berkeley. If elected she would be the youngest overseer ever to serve on the board