S. African Talks on $1M Fund

University officials and a visiting Black South African educator this week discussed funding a joint project between a Harvard professor and the educator with the controversial $1 million South Africa aid fund President Bok set up last year.

Merlin Mehl, a professor at the University of the Western Cape and leader of a Black South African education group, met with Graduate School of Education officials Thursday and yesterday, said Associate Dean of the Ed School Jerome T. Murphy.

"Despite the instability in South Africa, Mehl is of the view that his project will make a difference," Murphy said.

Mehl, who heads the Commission on Math and Sciences, proposed using the fund to develop a mathematics and science curriculum for South African secondary schools in collaboration with Ed School lecturer David Perkins, an expert in the field.

The South African educator stressed that his organization is part of the progressive push to improve education for Blacks under apartheid, Murphy said. His commission was created by the National Education Crisis Committee (NECC), a grassroots organization concerned with bettering Black education.

"Mehl reminded the group last night that the NECC is where the action is in educational innovation in South Africa," Murphy said.

"I don't want to move forward on any program unless I think it is viewed as credible by progressive Black South African leaders and the NECC is viewed as highly credible," said Murphy, who travelled to South Africa in February to consult with Black South Africans about possible uses for the fund.

"I'm very pleased that people at the School of Education and in South Africa are considering ways that a project of interest in South Africa and within the capabilities of people here may be carried out," said Vice President and General Counsel Daniel Steiner '54, who is charged with allocating the fund.

A central University committee had the original responsibility of allocating the fund, but after plans for a South African internship program were criticized last year, Steiner delegated the task to the various faculties. The committee must still approve spending the fund.

Bok first proposed the Internship Program in the fall of 1985, but decided to cancel it after the University was criticized for failing to consult with Black South African leaders about the proposed spending of the fund.

The Ed School is now considering several ways to spend the fund, but no formal proposals have been submitted to Steiner's committee.

Murphy said he will discuss Mehl's program next week with faculty members and an Ed School committee which has been discussing ways to spend the fund. A proposal will be madeto the Steiner-led committee by the fall, he said.

The ANC backs the NECC as "an important part ofthe democratic cause in South Africa," said PalloJordan, a member of the national executivecommittee of the ANC, in a telephone interviewearlier this week. Jordan said all but two of theNECC leaders are now in detention.

While in South Africa, Murphy asked NECCleader, Eric Molobia, how the University shouldspend its fund, and Molobia said he supported aHarvard-funded project with Mehl, Murphy said.

"When we met we talked about calculus and kids,but he's a terrorist in the eyes of thegovernment," Murphy said, adding that the two hadto meet in Murphy's hotel room because Molobia ison the run from the South African police.

If Harvard sponsors a project with Mehl'scommission, Mehl said it would be on his terms notthe University's, Murphy said. "If Harvard is notwilling, [the commission will] go ahead with it,"he added