Seniors Protest PetroChina Ties

A new effort urging students to withhold Senior Gift donations until Harvard University divests from PetroChina, a Beijing-based oil company with ties to the government in Sudan, is set to begin today.

Matthew W. Mahan ’05 and Brandon M. Terry ’05 said they would mail letters to seniors today, criticizing PetroChina for doing business with the Sudanese regime that has been accused of supporting genocide.

In their letter, released yesterday to The Crimson, Mahan and Terry asked their classmates “to refuse to contribute to the Senior Gift because Harvard, through its investments, is complicit in the Sudan crisis.”

Their effort is one of several recent initiatives to counter Harvard’s approximate $4 million investment in PetroChina.

Senior Gift Spokesperson Jessica E. Vascellero ’05, who is also a Crimson editor, said she fails to see the rationale of the campaign, pointing out that the Senior Gift is separate from the endowment that holds shares in PetroChina.

“Asking students to withhold money is asking them to turn their backs on future Harvard students,” Vascellero said. “The purpose of the Senior Gift is not related to the endowment or PetroChina; the money goes toward financial aid and pressing needs of the University.”

According to the Senior Gift Committee’s website, the annual fund is designed to encourage seniors to give back to the University and advance undergraduate education. Donors can either give money to financial aid or to an unrestricted fund for expenses not covered by other University incomes.

But Mahan says these distinctions prove unimportant when considering the University’s failure as a “moral leader.”

“Since the University’s mission is to do good in the world, we shouldn’t support the institution financially in any way when it invests in funds directly related to genocide,” he said.

In response to Mahan and Terry’s letter, the Senior Gift Committee plans to continue to relay to seniors the purpose of the fund, stressing that Harvard’s investment in PetroChina and the Senior Gift “are totally unrelated,” Vascellero said. The Senior Gift committee still hopes to achieve its goal of getting 75 percent of the class to donate, she said.

But that won’t happen if Mahan and Terry have their way. In their letter they ask seniors “to keep [participation] at zero until Harvard takes a principled stand against genocide.”

Activists against the Sudanese genocide commended Mahan and Terry for their most recent efforts. Jesse A. Sage ’98, associate director of the American Anti-Slavery Group, which an organization that advocates against modern slavery, said, “[Students] realize that money talks. Withholding the class gift is an important symbolic way to express student outrage over the news that Harvard has increased—rather than divested—its PetroChina holdings.”

Sage said he expects other college campuses to follow Harvard’s example in withholding funds.

Mahan and Terry’s initiative is part of a larger trend of student activism encouraging Harvard’s divestment from PetroChina.

In November, Manav K. Bhatnagar ’06 and Benjamin B. Collins ’06, initiated a petition demanding the University to withdraw its funds in the oil company. It now has signatures from 576 students and 88 faculty members.

The gift campaign is not the first of Mahan and Terry’s efforts for divestment. Last year, the pair demonstrated against graduation speaker and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan for failing to take action against the genocide in Sudan.