Vote for Disclosure

THE CORPORATION'S decision last week to vote its proxies to force the Caterpillar Tractor Company to disclose its South African activities should be the first of many votes against irresponsible corporate managements. The Corporation's adherence to the first recommendation of the student-faculty-alumni Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility is praiseworthy. All members of the University are responsible for insuring that Harvard act appropriately.

It is theoretically possible that the jobs Caterpillar Tractor provides black Africans outweigh the harm done by supporting South Africa's present government through taxes and "charities." But the company's refusal to provide information necessary to evaluate its beneficence suggests that this is probably not the case, and the ACSR and Corporation were quite properly skeptical.

The Corporation's next chance to endorse the ACSR's skepticism comes next week, when it votes its Phillips Petroleum shares for or against an ACSR-endorsed resolution to force the company's withdrawal from Namibia, the southwest African territory that South Africa rules illegally and with the same rigid apartheid the government imposes at home. Until the Corporation follows the ACSR's lead on this and other matters, we will remain skeptical; but the Caterpilllar Tractor vote is at least a step in the right direction.