Word: acsr
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Calkins' original comment was made during a meeting between members of the Corporation and the Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (ACSR). Several members of the advisory committee, which makes non-binding recommendations to the Corporation on ethical issues it may face when handling its $2-billion endowment, said Calkins' statement strayed significantly away from what Harvard's official investment policy should...
...unanimous vote taken last week, the ACSR sent to the Corporation a recommendation that Harvard must consider its ethical position before buying the stock. In two strongly supported votes, the committee supported the use of the Sullivan principles as minimum standards for treating companies in which Harvard either owns or wants to own stock...
...most flagrant indication, of course, was the comment of senior Corporation fellow Hugh Calkins '45 to members of the Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (ACSR) that Harvard does not take ethical considerations into account in the initial decision to buy shares in a company. While it sounds unduly harsh, this statement probably represented little more than a semantic change in the University's South Africa policy. As it is, Harvard says it checks up on companies already in its portfolio to make sure they are in some way working for "constructive change" in South Africa Calkins statement simply means Harvard...
...Calkins' words had a greater symbolic importance, confirming once again just how low a priority the South Africa issue is for the Corporation. It was, for one thing, an unabashed slap at the ACSR, which has been struggling recently to erase its image of powerlessness. ACSR members wondered: just how important can our advice be, if the Corporation won't make the cursory effort to screen companies out of its portfolio that fail to meet the minimum standards of behaviour in South Africa? But even more distressing was the way Calkins, in commenting to the ACSR made clear just...
...grip on the country than to contribute to the welfare of its Black workers. Last year the Corporation tried to water down its policy even more by ending its automatic ban on investing in banks that make loans to the South African government. Only student protest and a unanimous ACSR recommendation opposing the change forced it to back down from abridging the one concession it gave to activists...