SASC Report Lambasts S.A. Internship Program

The Southern Africa Solidarity Committee (SASC) in a report to be relased today charges that Harvard's much-publicized South African aid program has serious flaws and may ultimately bolster the apartheid regime rather than the 22 million Blacks in that country.

SASC claims in the 48-page report that Harvard officials assigned to administer a $1 million fund set up to benefit South African Blacks have not contacted organizations representing Black South Africans, have failed to solicit the opinions of Black South Africans at Harvard, and has offered to place interns with institutions of dubious value to the Blacks of that nation.

Written by students who head the divestment movement at Harvard, the report states, "Black South Africans with a strong claim to representing real constituencies have all mentioned in their comments on the Internship Program that they see the program as a way of avoiding divestment and other sanctions against South Africa."

The activists urged Harvard, "to suspend this mistaken program, to sell its stock in companies that do business in South Africa, and then to reopen the question of other kinds of assistance."

But the chairman of the committee charged with administering the internship program, Vice President and General Counsel Daniel Steiner '54, yesterday called the report premature and "destructive," saying it is based on "misinformation" about Harvard's efforts in this area.

Divestment Alternative

In an open letter this September responding to the worsening racial conflict in South Africa, President Derek C. Bok set aside the $1 million fund and established a South Africa aid program of which the internship program isa part.

Bok stressed in his letter, considered his mostactive response to continuing oppression in SouthAfrica since becoming president, that debate overHarvard's $400 million investments in SouthAfrica-related companies should not precludeeducational initiatives like the internshipprogram.

"Every South African Black who recieves aneducational experience that would not otherwise beavailable has an opportunity to contributesomething of value to his or her people," Bokwrote in the report.

Yet the SASC report claims that the committeeBok appointed to accomplish this goal has selectedimproper educational institutions for Harvardinterns because:

.the committee began planning without the inputof any Black South Africans;

.Black South Africans have never met with thecommittee as a whole and recommendations by BlackSouth Africans at Harvard against the program werenot acted upon;

.the institutions which did offer to acceptinterns are either connected to the Pretoriagovernment, run by oppressive corporations, or donot serve many Blacks;

.Harvard failed to send requests to prominentSouth African organizations known to be workingagainst apartheid.

"At present, the flaws of the program arestructural and can only be addresed by completelyredesigning the program, starting with a lengthlyconsultation with Black South Africans, atHarvard, elsewhere in the United States, and aboveall in South Africa," the report concludes.

Steiner denied all of the charges, arguing thathis committee has consulted Black South Africansand has not finally selected any South Africaninstitutions for interested undergraduates toserve. He said the selection process for suitableinternships is ongoing and that the list ofopportunities is not complete.

However, applications from Harvard studentsinterested in interships are due Friday. Anystudent considering an internship under theprogram receives a nine-option list from theOffice of Career Services from which to make aselection.

The list at OCS includes five predominantlywhite private schools, two philanthropicfoundations in Namibia, and two science and matheducation programs.

SASC criticized the institutions listed, calledthe "Temporary List of Available South AfricanInternships," not beneficial to Blacks.

The report charges that the private schools aremostly white, upper class, elite institutions atwhich interns will not help large numbers ofBlacks.

One available internship, with the RossingFoundation of Namibia, was cited by SASC asparticularly abhorent since it is connected withthe Rossing Corporation, a multinational miningconcern which the report states endangers thelives of workers in its open-pit uranium mine.

In response to this charge, David Smith, vicedean of Harvard Law School and a member ofSteiner's committee, said that if the foundationis connected with Rossing, the committee isunlikely to support internships there.

Steiner said he had not studied the list ofinternships now posted in OCS and did not defendtheir value. He said only that more opportunitieshave become available.

Contact with Blacks

One other problem raised by the report is whatSASC calls a failure on the part of the committeeto contact Black South African leaders andscholars. But Steiner dismisses that charge,saying Blacks here and in South Africa have orwill be contacted.

In November Professor Alan Heimert, Master ofEliot House and the administrator of Harvard'sSouth African Fellowship Program went to SouthAfrica to make organizations aware of the program.The professor, who provided President Bok with areport before Bok established the $1 million fund,said several Black educators had expressedinterest in the program.

But in the report SASC faults Heimert forfailing to contact organizations which representlarge numbers of Blacks, such as the UnitedDemocratic Front and the African NationalCongress. Heimert said he did not contact the UDFbecause "I deal with people involved ineducational enterprises."

Both Steiner and Heimert scoffed at the idea ofcontacting the African National Congress, a exiledrebel organization. Neo Mnumza, chiefrepresentative of the ANC at the United Nations,released a statement opposing the internshipprogram which was quoted in the SASC report.

"Whatever tampering is done with theeducational system, as long as apartheid is inplace, the system can never amount to anythingexcept to make the regime in Pretoria look betterthan it is," Mnumza continued. In addition, Mnumzasaid, education interns would damage any studentand teacher boycotts of the government-controlledschools.

Steiner also says the committee has spoken toBlack South Africans at Harvard regarding theinternships by setting up several committees invarious parts of the University.

One such group, established by Merry I. White,the School of Education representative toSteiner's committee, has been meeting sinceOctober, White said. This group opposes sendinginterns to South Africa in favor of spending themoney to bring more Blacks to Harvard fortraining.

Steiner gave no indication that his committeewould reform the internship program based on theSASC report or seek further Black South Africaninput, saying only that any judgements of theprogram should await its final implementation.

SASC, which says it takes its lead from BlackSouth Africans, claims any such program is flawedsince the Blacks do not desire it, wanting theracist nation isolated as fully as possible