Debate on Shanties Draws Few

Campus conservatives called the shantytown in Harvard Yard a failure and labelled its backers hypocrites in a sparsely-attended discussion of the structures Wednesday night.

The meeting, sponsored by the Harvard Republican Club, attracted about 15 undergraduates--just two of them from the Southern Africa Solidarity Committee (SASC) the student group which built the shanties. "The SASC leadership discouraged people from attending" because of a candlelight vigil scheduled for the same time, said SASC member Nathaniel A. Wice '89.

"Tactically, the shanties are a failure," said Saied Kashani '86, president of the Conservative Club, which built its own shanty in the Yard last week to dramatize the issue.

"This is not civil disobedience. This is disobeying the law to create a nuisance," said Kris W. Kobach '88, Republican Club President.

"The members who are out there are just pointing a finger. How many students would be willing to throw their IBM PC's and Kodak film out the window?" asked Jeffrey S. Bartel '88, a member of the Republican Club. "You are protesting authoritarianism by authoritarian rules," he added.

Arguing in favor of the shanties, Wice called the shelters an expression of free speech and said there was a difference between using products and investing in the companies that make them. "The argument for divestment is political and social as well as economic," he said.

Further, Wice said, "The shanties get people to talk and think."