"Taking into consideration the socially detrimental impact of the gambling industry, PSLM believes that the vast majority of Harvard faculty, staff, alumni and students would strenuously object to Harvard-affiliated investments in Big Gambling," he wrote in the letter.
Tolchin said that while he is interested in the issue, he thinks that Harvard's endowment funds are involved in greater vices than gambling.
"My intuition is that there are a lot worse things going on in the companies Harvard invests in," Tolchin says. "Companies are involved in what seems to me to be pretty shady labor practices that are more ethically troubling to me than gambling."
HMC President Jack Meyer declined comment, referring questions to Elizabeth A. Gray, secretary to the Corporation's Committee on Shareholder Responsibility. Gray was unavailable for comment.