A Cornell student who is a member of the Investment Proxy Advisory Committee (IPAC), which advises the university trustee Investment Committee, has suggested that the Student Assembly refuse to appoint more students to IPAC.

In a report by Steve Beede, Cornell class of 1983, he states, "I believe that IPAC should be seen for what it is; a powerless agency created to give the appearance that Cornell considers social and political issues when making investment decisions."

IPAC was set up in the spring of 1978 in response to demonstrations the previous spring during which students protested Cornell's investment in companies with subsidiaries in South Africa. The Cornell Daily Sun, the campus newspaper, reported this week.

The purpose of IPAC is to advise the trustees on interests in companies that do business in South Africa as well as to offer an opinion on how Cornell should vote on shareholder proxy resolutions. A total of eight people associated with the university--two each from alumni faculty students and staff--compose the committee

Resignations

The two IPAC faculty representatives for last year. Richard Rosecrance, Walter Carpenter Professor of Comparative Government and Politics, and Randolf Barker, professor of agricultural economics, resigned by the end of last semester, at the same time that Beede was calling for dissolution of IPAC.

Xerox Proxy

The event that caused several committee members to question the value of IPAC was the rejection by the trustee Investment Committee of a recommendation by IPAC to vote against management on a Xerox shareholder's resolution. The resolution called for Xerox to stop selling arms to the South African government as well as to stop further investment by Xerox in South Africa.

The trustee Investment Committee did not give IPAC any reason for rejecting the advisory committee's resolution, Beede said.

In Rosecrance's letter of resignation, he stated. "In voting against the Xerox proxy resolution [that is, voting for management] the Investment Committee in effect voted in favor of an expansion of corporate investment and the inauguration of another Xerox product line in South Africa. In this it which IPAC has worked nearly three years to establish...I believe that IPAC should be abolished."

Barker's reasons for resigning were slightly different: in his letter of resignation he wrote, "I have reached the conclusion that the voting of proxies is not an effective way to communicate concerns about these issues to the corporation in question."

Nothing Better

Another IPAC member, Dominance Versage, a radiation life safety officer, opposes the move to disband IPAC. "My belief is that there has to be some forum where we can review these issues. If they come up with some other mechanism, then that's fine, but for now I'm in favor of continuing IPAC."

Corporations Care

Versage added that corporations are concerned with how Cornell might vote on a proxy resolution. For example, on one occasion, two Mobile representatives spent an entire morning explaining management's position to IPAC, Versage said.