Word: acsr
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Since 1972, the ACSR has had the responsibility of seeing that Harvard invests its money and votes its proxies. Stevens says "The very fact that this is a public community process is already a position by the Corporation on behalf of its responsibility as a shareholder." But whether the process is a strong enough statement of Harvard's social responsibility is a matter of controversy, especially when it comes to the question of investments in corporations doing business in South Africa...
...report issued March 24, 1978, the ACSR outlined several basic propositions that had emerged from its discussions throughout the preceding winter. Acknowledging that both the University and corporations have "responsibilities of citizenship" that may supercede economic considerations, the ACSR stated, "When the policies of actions of a company in the Harvard portfolio are not consonant with good citizenship, the University has an obligation to advocate that such policies and actions be changed...
...ACSR also decided that in the case of South Africa, the corporations themselves would have to prove their good citizenship. The ACSR listed a series of guidelines that companies choosing to remain in South Africa should follow in order to "ameliorate the effects of apartheid with respect to their own employees, even where such action impinges on profitability." The guidelines are based on principles first proposed in 1977 by Rev. Leon Sullivan, a director of General Motors Corporation, and would require a company to end discriminatory practices in employment and working conditions...
...addition to improving employment practices and policies, companies operating in South Africa should provide descriptions of product lines and services offered in South Africa, reports on sales to the South African government and its public corporations, reports on the extent to which labor practices meet the ACSR's criteria, and an annual income statement and balance sheet for operations in South Africa, the ACSR stated...
Because corporations are under no legal obligation to disclose all the information the ACSR requests, and because the South African government prohibits the release of some of this information, the committee considered a few options for dealing with intransigent companies. The ACSR rejected the option of divestiture of stock in such firms except in extreme cases because, according to the March 1978 report, "Our investigations persuade us that the act of divestiture by Harvard alone is unlikely to result in financial consequences to the divested company of sufficient magnitude to force a change in policy...