The companies will also have been targets of international environmental groups, according to Antha N. Williams, who is a regional coordinator for ECOnference 2000.
It will be up to student leaders on each campus to promote the boycott.
Although it is a nationwide boycott, the Boston region is especially important because the high concentration of schools here attracts heavy corporate recruiting.
Sahay said Harvard students working on the boycott will e-mail seniors in the spring and set up tables outside the Science Center where seniors can sign the boycott petition.
However, the EAC will probably not participate in the boycott, said co-chair Gretchen A. Stevens '01.
"It's a question of where we put our resources. We are wary of being approached by outside groups," she said. "A lot of groups approach us because they want to have Harvard on their lists."
But Stevens, who participated in a similar petition last year, said she supports the boycott and believes it will draw attention to companies with poor environmental records.