Word: acsr
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...crisis management that so recommended Derek Bok 11 years ago has helped him defray crises as President. Not that experiences like the 1972 takeover didn't accelerate his practical education in coping with troubled students Shortly after that event, Bok formed the part-student Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (ACSR); though he said he'd been planning to create the ACSR for some time, it took an event like PALC's takeover to shock him into action...
Once formed, though, Bok's ACSR has proved a convenient tool with which to pacify students upset with Harvard's investment policies. Of course, on occasion, working within the system through the ACSR has worked. This winter's unanimous ACSR vote clearly helped pressure the Corporation to maintain its absolute ban on investments in banks that loan to the South African government. A decade ago, the Corporation couldn't have been pressured into adopting such a policy in the first place. You've got to wonder if it would have been retained this winter without the formal opposition...
...ACSR play a role in picking out what this direction should be? The University obviously thinks so, and as far as students are concerned the answer seems to be a qualified yes. Helping make direct decisions is not in the cards, but in a number of different ways, the ACSR has had and still has the potential to influence policy...
...Flaherty and others point out, the ACSR makes it impossible for the Corporation to ignore moral considerations in investment policy. This is especially crucial in times, such as now, of low student interest in investment issues. Propp says in addition that the advisory committee can serve as a "lighting rod" for student concerns. "The existence of the ACSR has prevented the Corporation from sweeping [moral issues] under the carpet" he says...
This seems to be the ACSR's most important function. For while the 300 or so people who showed up at the March ACSR open meeting on South Africa bank loans seemed like a lot, the crowd pales is comparison to the over 3000 people who stormed through. Cambridge in 1978 on a condlelight march to protest Bok's refusal to divest from companies operating in South Africa. The ACSR seems to serve a pivotal role in at least keeping the Corporation thinking about some of the issues involved in ethically managing Harvard's immense portfolio...