Divestment Aimed at Wrong Companies

To the editors:

The esteemed Professor of Psychology Elizabeth S. Spelke and Pierce Professor of Psychology Ken Nakayama called in a recent op-ed (“For Human Rights,” Sept. 23) for Harvard to divest from “military aid and investments in Israel.” Their divestment petition itself calls on Harvard, “to divest from Israel, and from U.S. companies that sell arms to Israel.”

This position, while itself offensively and irresponsibly one-sided and misguided, is also quite disingenuous. “Divestment from military occupation,” a reader might muse, “Well, now, that might sound reasonable.” The reader would do well to examine the list of companies slated by Nakayama, Spelke and their colleagues for divestment, available at the petition website. The list includes such military giants as McDonald’s, IBM, International Paper and Lehmann Brothers. Are our faculty urging Harvard to pull its funds away from the infamous “Cheeseburger of Death to Palestinians” project? Or is their “political” position an effort to divest from Israel’s banks, medical companies, high-tech industry, economy and people?

Avi D. Heilman ’03

Sept. 23, 2002

The writer is cultural chair of Harvard Students for Israel.