SAC Elects Watchdog Committee Delegate

The Undergraduate Council’s Student Affairs Committee (SAC) last night elected Samuel B. Houshower ’03 the lone student representative to the Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility, which advises members of the Harvard Corporation on investment policy.

Houshower, chosen from a pool of five nominees, will serve a two-year term, pending confirmation of his appointment by the full council.

In the past, the committee has influenced the Corporation—Harvard’s highest governing board—to divest holdings in South African companies during apartheid. The committee has also discouraged the University from investing in tobacco companies. The Harvard Corporation has ultimate authority for the University’s endowment, which now stands at just over $18 billion.

“It’s important that a student is lending a voice to a major part of how Harvard is seen in the global community,” said SAC chair Rohit Chopra ’04.

But other SAC members said the committee likely will not play a large role in determining Harvard’s future investment policies.

“Even the most ambitious student is clearly going to have limited influence,” said SAC member Brian C. Grech ’03, citing the expertise and experience of Harvard’s money managers.

All five nominees voiced concern over Harvard’s stock holdings in their campaign speeches and pledged to push the Corporation to reconsider investment in companies with “unfair” labor practices or those that damage the environment.

Most expressed considerable dissatisfaction with Harvard’s current policy.

“An election like this by its very nature will attract the most activist and environmentally minded students,” Grech said.

Most also said that if elected they would work within the system’s framework rather than urging immediate divestment of any controversial holdings.

In response to a question from one SAC representative, the candidates rated themselves on a scale of 1 through 10, with 1 being belief in a purely profit-driven investment strategy and a 10 representing a policy solely concerned with “social responsibility.”

Houshower rated himself as a 2.5, saying that “Harvard has an obligation to make the most of the money that it has been given, but there are certain things that we as an organization cannot support.”

Houshower said he was particularly concerned with Harvard’s investment in holding corporations, which he said allow the University to divorce itself from direct involvement in socially irresponsible companies.

Such holding companies, Houshower said, may support dictators in developing countries.

He also pledged to look into “particularly nasty” stock holdings, such as the University’s investment in Exxon Corporation, which Houshower implied damages the environment.

But Houshower said profit will still be the prime motivating factor in determining investments.

“I wouldn’t advocate us putting all our money in a green fund,” he said.

Houshower recently transferred to Harvard from Deep Springs College in California, where he sat on the board of trustees.

He also served on the board of directors of the Telluride Association, Inc., an educational non-profit firm.

“I feel very pleased that as a brand-new student I have been welcomed into the community,” he said. “This committee has had a history of making an impact of Harvard’s investment policies.”

—Staff writer William M. Rasmussen can be reached at wrasmuss@fas.harvard.edu.