THE GREEN MONTHS of spring are the time of year when Harvard's chorus of fundraisers starts singing siren songs to a newborn generation of prospective donors--the senior class For the past several weeks, as in previous years, a small army of senior "gift agents" with marching orders from the University's development office has undertaken a thorough canvassing of their classmates for donations towards a gift to Harvard from the Class of 1983.

For seniors who object to the way Harvard manages its money, the most common response to these spring solicitations has simply been not to chip in. In 1981, senior activists protesting the University's investments in companies that do business in South Africa went a step further, launching large-scale campaigns to discourage their classmates from contributing to the class gift.

Those efforts, while laudable, often left observers with the frustrating sense that their impact was short-lived. After the graduating class had tossed their caps into the air and filed out of the Yard, the only lasting effect organizers could claim for their months of work was that the University's coffers were a little lighter.

This year, students in the Southern Africa Solidarity Committee (SASC) have designed an imaginative way to insure that their class gift protest is not forgotten With the support of more than 350 seniors and the endorsement of the full Undergraduate Council. SASC leaders are urging seniors to make their donations into a closed account that will be held in escrow until Harvard divests itself of all stock in companies that operate in South Africa.

When that happens, or when the United Nations determines that South Africa's racist apartheid government is no longer a cause for international concern and lifts its 1976 call for corporate divestiture, the money in the account will go to Harvard. If neither condition is met after 20 years--as seems likely--the funds will go to a charity with no ties to Harvard. In the meantime, the money will remain outside Harvard's reach, in the custody of the Council's treasurer.

The fund's size will probably be inconsequential in the big picture of Harvard finances, even if it matches last year's impressive gift total of $23,000. But it will represent an enduring and tantalizing reminder to the University that many of its students find the University's indirect support of the apartheid regime reprehensible.

This year's senior gift agents have not been instructed to mention the escrow fund in their pitches, but we encourage them nevertheless to publicize the drive--whether in the course of the job or by resigning from their positions in symbolic protest.

One concern that many seniors have expressed is that with-holding their donations to the Gift will weaken Harvard's scholarship funds, the gift's target. But Dean of Admissions and Financial Aids L. Fred Jewett '57 has stated that University budgets are fungible enough that reducing the restricted scholarship allocation will not necessarily take a bite out of the total expenditure for scholarships.

The only other official comment on the escrow drive has come from the Harvard Corporation's chief spokesman on investment-related matters, who demonstrated a disgraceful snideness. Criticizing undergraduates for "using economic power to coerce Harvard into changing its policies," Hugh Calkins '45 added. "If students think we're wrong, they should send President Bok a 20-page memorandum."

But Calkins, a Cleveland tax lawyer, knows perfectly well that $20 bills speak louder than 20-page memos. The Undergraduate Council deserves high praise for lending its weight to the escrow drive with publicity and money for legal costs. We hope it keeps the fund growing during class gift efforts of the future, and we hope that alumni Harvard fundraisers and contributors will create similar funds of their own.

Above all, we hope all current seniors inclined to contribute to a class gift of any kind will support this potent alternative effort.