Houses Cold Shoulder the ACSR

Cambridge and the Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility (ACSR) have had to steel themselves against the same conditions this week--a frigid environment.

The Undergraduate Committee on Harvard Shareholder Responsibility (UCHSR) decided to postpone its appointment of an undergraduate to the ACSR, noting the cooling of student opinion toward the advisory committee.

Nine House Committees, the Student Assembly and the Freshman Council, all voted for the reform of the ACSR and a boycott of the advisory committee if the reforms are rejected.

As House Committees one by one voted to boycott the ACSR, Archie C. Epps III, dean of students, and Lawrence F. Stevens '65, secretary of the ACSR, attempted to present the other side of the issue.

Epps sent to each House Committee a packet of letters outlining, the University's opinion of the proposed reforms.

The information Epps sent to the committees did not include, however, the resignation statement of Julie Fouquet '80, the UCHSR chairman who resigned from the ACSR. UCHSR protested, and Epps sent the resignation letter to the committees.

But some UCHSR members believe this oversight is an example of how, in the words of one committee member, Epps has "abused his position and resources" in "interjecting himself in House committee meetings."

In fact, many committee members, and Epps himself, believe that his presence at the committee meetings may provoke resentment, harming attempts at defending the ACSR's undergraduate seat.

According to Hugh Calkins '45, chairman of the Corporation Committee on Shareholder Responsibility, the advisory committee will miss the undergraduate member as it moves into the '79 proxy season.

The undergraduate member offers the ACSR an "important perspective" the committee wants as it reviews corporations active in South Africa in the next few months, Calkins said yesterday.

Calkins and many opponents of the boycott within the House Committees believe the ACSR would be more effectively reformed by an undergraduate member working within the ACSR.

But for now, it looks as though the undergraduates will continue to turn a cold shoulder to the ACSR.