Last night Richard Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO, delivered a powerful address at the IOP. Speaking directly to the Harvard community, Trumka stressed the need for public intellectuals to work in the interest of the public good, for the consequences of an intelligentsia wedded to the economic elite is only further hatred and anti-intellectualism among those excluded from such circles of power and economic privilege.

SLAM followed its November 2 meeting with a trip to the Lowell Junior Common Room for a meeting with Evelyn Hammonds, Dean of Harvard College, on aligning our priorities with budget cutbacks. Although it was not indicated in the email publicizing the feedback session, Dean Hammonds did not show up. Present instead were Suzie Nelson, Dean of Student Life, a Lowell House tutor, Lowell housemasters, and four student members of the Budget Cut Task Force. Dean Hammonds’s spontaneous absence raised initial questions about the seriousness with which the administration took the meeting.