S. Africa No Longer Tops CCSR Agenda

Environmental concerns will dominate this year's agenda of the Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (CCSR) even as investments in South Africa are becoming less of an issue, according to the CCSR's mid-year report.

The report, released yesterday, indicates improvements in the South African political climate as the reason for paying less attention to Harvard's investments in companies doing business there.

"The continuing progress toward democracy in South Africa has prompted many shareholder proponents to stop requesting U.S. companies to end direct or non-equity ties with South Africa," the report says. "In place of these proposals, many proponents are now requesting that companies adopt policies of non-expansion in South Africa until an interim government is in place."

The CCSR is responsible for overseeing the ethical implications of the University's investment policy and for determining its proxy votes as a shareholder in hundreds of publicly held corporations.

Its three members--Corporation members D. Ronald Daniel, Robert G. Stone Jr. '45 and Charles P. Slichter '45--review voting recommendations made by the Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility, a 12-member board made up of faculty, students and alumni.

CCSR Secretary Elizabeth A. Gray said yesterday the reduced focus on companies doing business in South Africa reflects that country's changing political situation.

"While things are not predictable...there is a sense of momentum that everyone is continuing to watch very closely," Gray said. "There has been renewed movement in South Africa to bring parties together to talk and that, I think, has to be an important part of the background for what to do with individual proxies in the coming year."

In past years, anti-apartheid activists have protested the University's continued investments in companies doing business in South Africa.

But last night, a spokesperson for the Harvard Radcliffe Alumni Against Apartheid (HRAAA) echoed Gray's assessment.

"It's a different kind of struggle [in South Africa]," said Judith Kauffman Baker '70, a member of the HRAAA executive committee. "When you have a situation where people in the [African National Congress] are negotiating with American corporations to see what kind of future they would like to plan for that country, it seems hardly sensible for us to have an independent position."

"We're not calling for divestment," Baker added.

According to the CCSR report, issues relating to the environment will dominate the committee's agenda this year. CCSR members must decide whether to urge 48 companies in which Harvard owns stock to adhere to an environmental policy issued by the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies.

Last year, the CCSR voted against a similar measure, citing problems with the wording of the policy. The policy was rewritten last spring.

Some new issues facing the CCSR this year relate to the adoption of smoke-free facilities by corporations, U.S. business in Myanmar (Burma), the operation of American-owned assembly plants in Mexico and Guatemala, bank lending policies and broadcasting standards

According to the CCSR report, issues relating to the environment will dominate the committee's agenda this year. CCSR members must decide whether to urge 48 companies in which Harvard owns stock to adhere to an environmental policy issued by the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies.

Last year, the CCSR voted against a similar measure, citing problems with the wording of the policy. The policy was rewritten last spring.

Some new issues facing the CCSR this year relate to the adoption of smoke-free facilities by corporations, U.S. business in Myanmar (Burma), the operation of American-owned assembly plants in Mexico and Guatemala, bank lending policies and broadcasting standards