And Terry and Mahan insist that senior gifts can influence HMC decisions about adjustments to endowment payouts.

“The refusal to divest says that we care more about making the return on four million dollars than about genocide.” Terry said. “It’s all about money, and that’s offensive.”

Fourteen student organizations have endorsed the Senior Gift Plus campaign, according to seniorgiftplus.com, including the Harvard College Democrats, and the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, and Supporters Alliance (BGLTSA).

Another group that endorsed the Senior Gift Plus was the BSA, whose executive board voted this week on the matter.

“We thought it was an issue that we needed to address because it dealt specifically with black Africans,” BSA president Lawrence E. Adjah ’06 said.

THE RESPONSE

But not all students agreed with Mahan and Terry’s strategy for demanding divestment from PetroChina.

According to Senior Gift Spokeswoman Jessica E. Vascellaro ’05, who is also a Crimson editor, the senior gift is separate from the general endowment, and endowment payout decisions are not affected by the Senior Gift.

She added that the money in the fund is therefore not going to PetroChina.

Senior Gift chairs declined to comment on the situation, referring all requests to Vascellaro.

But a group of seniors not involved in the Senior Gift campaign, led by Daniel E. Kafie ’05, decided to mock Mahan and Terry’s strategies, setting up a parody website, seniorgiftplusplus.com, last weekend.

The website, which deliberately imitates the layout of the seniorgiftplus.com is openly critical of Mahan and Terry, and accuses them of trying to “hijack” the Senior Gift.

And the website offers seniors yet another avenue for donations—while it links to the original Senior Gift site, it also links to the donation page of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a charity that aids refugees worldwide.

In addition, seniorgiftplusplus.com sells T-shirts mocking the Senior Gift Plus campaign and pledges that profits from those sales will go to the IRC as well.

Kafie emphasized that by setting up seniorgiftplusplus.com, he intended to mock Mahan and Terry’s strategy for protesting PetroChina and the genocide in Darfur but not their humanitarian aims.