Students Bolster Relief Efforts

To increase awareness of the human tragedies taking place in Bosnia and Somalia and to raise funds for humanitarian relief efforts, a group of Harvard students this week formed a new campus organization.

The Bosnia And Somalia In Crisis (BASIC) Group--founded by Ayelet K. Margalioth '94 and Gordon N. Lederman '93--mobilized yesterday, tabling for donations and petition signatures in front of Widener Library.

"Given the extent of the crisis, we had to act fast," Lederman said.

The petitions urge Congress and the President to seek diplomatic resolutions to the crises of ethnic violence and food shortages and to increase relief efforts and donations to the United Nations.

BASIC will forward the money to the United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs to allocate the funds, including the nearly $140 raised yesterday, according to Margalioth.

In addition to continued tabling efforts, BASIC hopes to print fact-sheets, sponsor lectures and build a "campus coalition" of minority groups, according to Lederman.

"We're hoping to build momentum," said Margalioth. "We really want to get as much help as we can," she said.

Lederman said BASIC will not become partisan, saying that the group will not endorse particular political positions, such as favoring U.S. military intervention in the afflicted countries.

"We're not taking any stands on political solutions," said Lederman. "This is strictly a humanitarian effort."