SASC Plans Letter Campaign To Prompt Overseers to Divest

Two weeks before the Board of Overseers meets to consider voting on divestment, the Southern Africa Solidarity Committee (SASC) is urging students to write the Overseers in favor of the Board's support of divestment.

Starting next week, the student activists will table in House dining halls to garner student signatures on a drafted letter or encourage students to write their own messages to the Overseers.

If the Board decides to endorse University divestment, it will be the first time in recent memory that the 30-member body has taken a stance contrary to that of Harvard's administration.

The draft of the SASC letter pleads for the Overseers to uphold the "moral integrity of the University" when they consider divestment, said SASC member Jaron Bourke '88-89.

While Overseers typically have little or no contact with students, this letter aims "to make members of the Board of Overseers aware that they are being watched and that there are a lot of people who believe their decisions are important," Bourke said.

"The Board of Overseers for the most part receive no communication, never, at all, with undergraduates," the Mather resident said. These letters then become highly significant."

In a similar effort last year, SASC gathered1100 student signatures asking the Corporation,Harvard's seven-man governing body, to hold openmeetings. SASC member Jay Hodos '89 said heexpected to top that total this year.

The Board of Overseers will hold a committeemeeting March 20 to discuss whether the issue ofdivestment should be brought before the wholeBoard at their April 10 meeting.

The student letter complements on-going alumniefforts to increase activism among the Overseersby placing anti-apartheid candidates on the body,said Executive Director of the Harvard/ RadcliffeAlumni Against Apartheid (HRAAA) Dorothee E. Benz'87.

"Student and alumni cooperation is a reallygood way of putting pressure on theadministration," Benz said. She said students mayalso field "welcoming committees" for Boardmembers before the March 20 meeting to demonstratetheir concern.

New Solidarity

SASC, which held its fourth meeting of thesemester Thursday night, will also be part of acollaborative effort with Black South Africancitizens living in the United States. Many ofthese non-exiles previously have maintained lowprofiles in their host countries for fear ofreprisals at home, Bourke said.

SASC and the Black Union of South Africans willsponsor a day of anti-apartheid awareness March 19at University of Massachusetts Boston, he said