Plotz said the overseers denied his slate the opportunity to put foward their own views on divestment.

"We consider this interference in the election process to be especially egregious in the context of this election because the "Alumni Against Apartheid" were denied the opportunity to give an adequate presentation of our views to the electorate," Plotz said.

"I resent the implication that the three of us aren't concerned with other issues in education because we are all deeply involved," said Seidman, a graduate student in sociology at the University of California at Berkeley.

Divestment activists at Harvard also denounced the action yesterday.

"By putting the resources of the University at the service of a particular list of candidates for the Board of Overseers, Ms. Bok, the board as a whole, the alumni office and, most importantly, President Bok have shown their fundamental lack of respect for one of the few ways the University community has to express their opinions," said Damon A. Silvers '86, a student prodivestment leader.

Tina E. Smith '83, founder and trustee of the Harvard Endowment for Divestiture, said: "The University must be very nervous or else they would not have had Joan T. Bok write this letter."

"This is the only avenue for alumni opinion on divestment" to be expressed, Smith said.