Emails to Administrators
Write your own email to the administration (or call or come by Mass Hall and
write a postcard). Contact info:
- Neil Rudenstine, President (617) 495-1502, beverly_sullivan@harvard.edu
- Harvey Fineberg, Provost, (617) 496-5100, harvey_fineberg@harvard.edu
- Sally Zeckhauser, VP for Administration, sally_zeckhauser@harvard.edu
- Harry Lewis, Dean of Harvard College, lewis@harvard.edu
- Polly Price, Associate VP for Human Resources, polly_price@harvard.edu
Date: Wed, 16 May 2001 04:10:46 -0400
Subject: 1975 sit-in
For release 3 May 2001 to Boston Globe.
Alumni Suggest Lesson from
1975 Massachusetts Hall Sit-In
Recalling a May 2, 1975 Massachusetts Hall sit-in, 14 alumni/ae sent an
open letter to President Neil Rudenstine urging Harvard to pay workers a
living wage. The alumni/ae, from the classes of 1975-77, suggested a
lesson for Harvard from the earlier sit-in, which sought support for and
expansion of the W.E.B. DuBois Institute:
Harvard University could easily provide leadership as a responsible
employer. Instead, the world's wealthiest university refuses to pay
janitors and other workers enough to support families in a high-cost area
without working two full-time jobs, as many now do. Forty students
recently took leadership by peacefully sitting-in at the president's
office, saying the university community must care about even its
lowest-status workers. They recognize workers cannot pay rent and feed
children with English-language classes and other benefits that Harvard has
offered instead of a living wage.
Twenty-six years ago, students peacefully sat-in in the same office,
urging Harvard to support and expand the role of its nascent W.E.B. DuBois
Institute for Afro-American Research. Some of us sat in, others gave
support from outside. Harvard now proudly says its prestigious,
greatly-expanded institute "has done more [for]...scholarly development of
African American Studies than any other pre-doctoral or post-doctoral
program" in the U.S.
Today, we urge Harvard to acknowledge its students' and workers'
far-sighted message, and to pay all workers a living wage-now at least
$10.25 an hour around Boston. If it does, we are confident that, looking
back in 25 years, its leadership as an enlightened employer will be widely
applauded.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following alumni/ae signed the statement; current affiliations for some
are listed for identification purposes only, and do not imply any
organizational endorsement. Non-Harvard degrees are noted in parentheses.
Laura Burns AB '75
Bill Fletcher, Jr. AB '76.
Vice President for International Trade Union Development Programs,
George Meany Center for Labor Studies-National Labor College (AFL-CIO)
Ruth Garnett AB '76
Peter Hardie AB '77
Cole Harrison AB '76 (MCS).
Ask Jeeves, Inc.
Jennifer Helmick AB '75 (MS).
Vice President, Eastern Research Group
Peter Hogness AB '76.
Professional Staff Congress-CUNY, American Fed. of Teachers Local 2334
Natalia (Thomas) Kanem AB '76 (MD, MPH).
Ford Foundation
Mary Lassen AB '75, Bunting Institute Fellow '93-4.
Executive Director, Women's Educational and Industrial Union
Jack Mills AB '75, MPA '92.
Program Director, Jobs for the Future
Vivien Morris AB '75 (MPH,MS,RD).
Boston Medical Center
David Price AB '77 (JD)
Deborah Socolar AB '75 (MPH).
Co-Director, Health Reform Program, Boston University School of Public
Health
Chris Tilly AB '76 (PhD).
University Professor, University of Massachusetts at Lowell; and
Visiting Professor, 2000-2001, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Subject: reaction to your Harvard News
Dear Sir/Dear Lady,
I find it a bit difficult to respond to a person signing his/her
message "this email is for your information". I'd like to let you (whoever
you are, if possible President Rudenstine) know my opinon about the recent
student movement concerning the so-called living wage.
In a few words, I am unbelievably proud of these students. They
have made me very happy. Students may finally have become politically
motivated once more. The yuppie age could possibly be over, or, at least,
a reaction to the yuppie age may have surfaced. I think the university
should be very proud of them as well. If people do not have liberal ideas
during their youth, when will they have them? These students are my only
hope in the midst of the right-wing US government.
Concerning the issue of the living wage, I completely agree with
the students. I was born in Brazil, and I am involved with the Brazilian
immigrant community. I know there are Brazilians, as well as legal and
illegal immigrants from other countries, working at Harvard. I have
nothing against that, on the contrary. If people immigrate illegally to
the US, it's because they cannot earn a living in their countries. Illegal
immigrants are an important part of the US economy. These people work very
hard. They usually perform several jobs, for instance delivering
newspapers early in the morning and cleaning offices at night, in addition
to their "official" daytime job. They are extremely courageous. They
usually arrive accompanied by their families. Nobody, that I know of, can
live on $10.25 an hour. I, in any case, cannot - can you? I believe a
place as rich as Harvard should always pay their employees the proclaimed
living wage, whatever it may be.
Last but not least, do not forget that today's students will be
tomorrow's alumni. There must be ways of doing the right thing without
antagonizing the majority of the student body, not to mention the already
existing alumni.
Yours sincerely,
Susana Rossberg
letter to President Rudenstine from Ralph Nader
May 7, 2001
President Neil Rudenstine
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02138
Fax: (617) 495-150
Dear President Rudenstine,
Along with many other people close to Harvard, I have been observing the
efforts by workers, students, supporting faculty and friends to persuade
the Administration to provide a living wage to all, not just most, of
Harvard's employees and subcontracted labor. From a distance, it became
ever more puzzling why the University's managers resisted these pleas,
given Harvard's impressive $19 billion endowment, high tuition and
humanitarian traditions. Resistance without a rationale invited the
transformation of pleas to demands and now the occupation by three-dozen
students of Massachusetts Hall. What was once an arms length entreaty is
now viewed as a struggle over the conditions under which decisions are to
be made. The University has been reported as insisting that there will be
no negotiations while the students are sitting in. It would establish an
unsettling precedent that might encourage other physical occupations.
However, to do what is right does not require negotiations with the
students.
There is another way to view the situation from the University
administration's standpoint. (Remember that the faculty and the students
are very much part of what is meant by Harvard University). There is a
long history in our country of response to non-violent civil
disobedience-much of it unsavory and some of it noble and self-purifying.
Some of Harvard's finest sons and daughters at all levels of the University
have participated in such civil disobedience during the civil rights,
anti-war, arms control and other movements in recent decades. They were
basically acting to evoke shame, guilt, introspection, redemption or moral
recognition among the objects of their disobedience. They also were trying
to widen the audience of concern and judgement on behalf of their cause
through the media and other modes of communication.
Now it is incumbent on Harvard's leadership to respond, having lost its
moral authority on this living wage issue many months ago. And to recover
its moral authority is to unilaterally announce that no employees at the
University or its subcontractors and their families will have to live in
poverty while they labor for this institution. Harvard does not lose face
when it does what should have been done long ago. You earn Harvard respect
by recognizing your agreement with the essence of the students' demands who
risked much by following through on their convictions into demonstrative
activities. There are times when an articulate humility by the more
powerful party to a dispute rises to an occasion of enduring eloquence.
In order to reduce the likelihood of future sit-ins regarding matters of
deep student concern, you have to establish a suitable mechanism by which
the students can have a deliberative outlet to voice their senses of
justice in the future and receive a response from the Administration which
they perceive to be something other than "waiting them out." Here, the Law
School has abundant talent that can be drawn upon both in the areas of
dispute resolution, a structured foresight mechanism and the expression of
a healing humility to end the present discord.
The present situation day after day generates costs to all sides, but none
more than to Harvard's reputation around the country. Whatever
considerations you are relying upon to continue the present standoff are
not reaching that portion of public opinion which is concentrating on the
basic issue -- that of a living wage for full time workers, whether
directly on Harvard's payroll or on that of its subcontractors.
Surely, you could not have welcomed these turmoils just weeks before you
complete your tenure as Harvard's President. But there are ways out that
can decisively turn around later historical judgements and demonstrate that
the wisdom of the elders can interact with the sensitive tempers of the
youthful towards a just resolution.
Sincerely yours,
Ralph Nader HLS '58
Date: Fri, 04 May 2001 20:16:57
From: evelyn O
Subject: campus labor
Dear Mr. Fineberg,
I am writing to express my concern about your lack of support for the
living wage campaign on campus. I believe people who work at Harvard
deserve to be paid enough to live in dignity above the poverty level and
support a family. I urge you to follow the Cambridge City Council's lead
in implementing a $10.25 per hour living wage policy. This is an
opportunity for Harvard, as one of the most prestigious and wealthiest
universities in the world, to set an example in fair employment
practices.
It is also a chance for Harvard to set an example in critical thinking
and compassion in supporting organized workers and a workforce that keeps
the campus running and well.
Sincerely,
Evelyn O'Connor
B.A. Political Economy
From: "Ellen Robinson"
Date: 4/29/01 4:15:45 PM
Dear Mr Rudenstine--I consider it reprehensible that after just
successfully completing Harvard's $230-million fundraising campaign,
that you deem a level that your own City Council of Cambridge
has judged a fair and living wage to be unacceptable for Harvard
workers.
It is scandalous that Harvard University is not at the forefront
of institutions supporting fair remuneration for workers. As
the richest university and one of the wealthiest non-profit organizations
in the world, Harvard is particularly obligated to set an example
of fair pay and community responsibility to other institutions.
Out-sourcing work to other organizations does not absolve you
from the duty of paying campus workers a salary that keeps them
above poverty level.
Look at the reputation that you are creating for Harvard.
Sincerely,
Ellen Robinson
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 16:11:11 -0700
Subject: Adopt Living Wage for All Harvard Workers!!!
Dear President Rudenstine:
I am writing to express my concern about poverty wages on campus. I
believe people who work at Harvard deserve to be paid enough to live in
dignity above the poverty level and support a family. I urge you to
follow the Cambridge City Council's lead in implementing a $10.25 per
hour living wage policy. This is an opportunity for Harvard, as one of
the most prestigious and wealthiest universities in the world, to set an
example in fair employment practices. As a '93 graduate and financial
contributor to Harvard, I believe the university has the opportunity and
obligation to set an example throughout the world for humane, decent, and
efficient work conditions. It would be a disgrace for Harvard to fail to
do the right thing at this historic moment in time -- a legacy which
would be remembered. I urge you to adopt a living wage for all Harvard
employees and in the process again set precedent as the leading
educational institution in the country.
Sincerely yours,
Betty Hung '93
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 12:30:07 -0700
Subject: Student Sit - In for Living Wage for University Workers
Mr. Fineberg,
I am disturbed to learn that Harvard University apparently not has
adequately addressed the concerns of students and the needs of university
workers over the last two years and that the students find it necessary
to engage a continuing sit-in demonstration to draw attention to these
issues and the need for a fair resolution. You have admitted these
students as among the best and brightest and most socially aware in the
county. They deserve your attention and respect.
From my experience people are moved to such drastic action only when
their cause is just and the tactic is a last resort. At SF State
University in the 1969-70, the administration failed to follow through on
long term student/faculty proposals for admission and curriculum reforms
for students of color, resulting in a long and bitter, very public strike
with community support and police intervention. Administrators publicly
objected to the strike tactics but didn't acknowledge that the strikers
had exhausted various non-confrontational and democratic options over the
preceding years before voting to strike. The protracted strike was broken
after complete disruption of the academic year, daily picketing, mass
demonstrations and arrests, the closing of classes and eventually the
campus, but the reform demands for increased admissions and ethnic study
programs were laterimplemented and became standard at universities and
colleges (until the recent reactionary assault on affirmative action).
I urge you to sit down and negotiate a reasonable and just solution with
the students, who are after all acting in the finest American traditions
of freedom and justice for all. San Francisco and several other cities
have passed Living Wage legislation covering public employees and
contractors. As a world famous and respected institution with a liberal
image, Harvard University has to follow these examples and do the right
thing for it's students and workers. Please advise me how you plan to
respond to this issue and your self imposed crisis.
Sincerely,
Robert English
San Francisco, CA
Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 10:01:56 -0800
Subject: Living Wage campaign
Dear President Rudenstine,
As an alumna of Harvard, I urge you to negotiate with the student in
Massachusetts Hall AND agree to a living wage for Harvard workers
(whether employed by the University or by outside contractors).
These students are thinking seriously about issues of social justice and
acting upon their principles. When students do NOT have a democratic
process available to them, non-violent direct action is a valid
alternative. It is my understanding that the committee which decided a
living wage was unnecessary was picked by the administration and did not
include students, workers or union representatives. In no way can this
be seen as a valid committee to decide this issue. Any committee now set
up to revisit the matter should have independent representatives from all
of the factions (including faculty picked faculty members).
As for the original issue, it is unconscionable for people to be working
full-time and not receive wages adequate to live on. Harvard should be
taking the high moral ground here rather than relying on "market" forces.
Surely the richest university in the nation can afford to pay its workers
a living wage. I am ashamed that Harvard is taking the position it has
and will not contribute to the university unless it alters its stance.
In 1964, the students at the University of California who participated in
the Free Speech Movement were also castigated by the University for their
tactics (despite similar circumstances of undemocratic processes). By
1997 the University was building monuments to honor these students and
the political freedom they brought to campuses. Please listen to your
students now, rather than recognizing the justice of their cause thirty
years from now.
Sincerely,
Lynne Hollander Savio
Alumna
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Date: Thu, 03 May 2001 09:09:45 -0400
Subject: Living Wage sit-in
As a Harvard graduate ('68) I write urging you to meet with the students
sitting-in in Mass Hall and bargaining in good faith to provide all
Harvard employees with a living wage. I am extremely disappointed at the
refusal thus far to meet with the students and to make an institutional
commitment to this eminently fair proposal. Harvard stands for a lot in
the world and has to do the right thing by its employees and set an
example for others. The message communicated thus far is not the message
we should be sending to the broader academic world. If the community of
scholars means anything it also has to mean that our community is not
based on the poor treatment of employees who make the university work. I
trust I will hear shortly that Fair Harvard is acting fairly.
Sincerely yours,
Thomas Dublin, '68
Date: Tue, 1 May 2001 21:52:46 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: RE: Message from the Dean of Harvard College
Dear Dean Lewis,
I am writing to express my concern with the e-mail you
sent to students (enclosed below). While it is of course imperative to
inform the Harvard community about security concerns and incidents such
as that described below, this has traditionally been the purview of the
Harvard Police Department.
To lump together in one e-mail this security issue, and the
PSLM/Living Wage issue, is highly inappropriate unless a concrete link
between the two can be proven. I take it that there is no suggestion
that the individuals involved are related to the PSLM, but your e-mail,
whether deliberately or not, does infer such an association. This is
only exacerbated by the fact that you have broken with standard procedure
(ie. that HUPD sends out community security updates) by sending this
e-mail.
Your e-mail seems to suggest that the PSLM has created an
atmosphere of "increased tension and turbulence", and also speaks of the
long hours worked by the security and police forces under "trying
conditions." As far as I have been able to observe, the relations
between PSLM personnel and police has been quite cordial, with protesters
complying with police requests to stay away from Massachusetts Hall, as
well as other requests. If this is an accurate characterization of the
situation as a whole, this only emphasizes how inappropriate the implicit
link between the security incident and the PSLM activities are.
Furthermore, it is inappropriate to address to the entire college
community the requests you have made to the PSLM: those should be made
directly to those involved in organizing and coordinating the protest.
Your e-mail, as well as President Rudenstine's previous e-mail, should
have been targeted to those involved: if any other person or organization
had e-mailed the entire undergraduate community about their opinions
on/negotiations with a specific Harvard group, it would rightfully be
regarded as "spam".
Lastly, you refer in your e-mail to "standard policies regarding
amplification..." Despite my previous urgings, dating back to this fall,
I have yet to see any written policy regarding the use of amplification.
Given your claim that such a policy does now exist, I would request that
you send it, not to all Harvard undergraduates, but to the leaders of all
student groups (Susan Cooke has such a list) so that they can comply with
your policy.
Respectfully yours,
Sam Sternin
Date: Tue, 01 May 2001 23:55:22 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Please Support a Living Wage for Harvard Workers
President Rudenstine,
It is uplifting to see students at one of the wealthiest universities in
the world demanding justice and fair treatment for those who make their
education possible. Thousands of workers suffer poverty wages and
inadequate benefits despite full-time employment to enable the most
priveleged members of our society to receive a quality education at
Harvard. It should be obvious that they deserve a wage that allows them
to provide the most basic of all needs for themselves and their familes
in return for their hard work.
I write this from across the country at Stanford University, where
despite the great distance that divides us, we face very similar
problems. Our union has successfully fought over time to ensure that
none of our workers receive poverty wages, a difficult task in a region
with one of the highest costs of living in the United States. This
applies, unfortunately, only to the workers who we represent, leaving a
great number of workers (both direct and contracted) far below the
poverty line. Casual and temporary workers suffer the most, enduring a
total lack of job security in addition to poverty wages.
This is not merely a curious situation for an institution which claims to
further the noble goals of society, preparing the best and brightest of
our youth to venture into the world and contribute to it. It is
hypocritical, and it is unacceptable. It is unacceptable that students
who the university serves must themselves hold it responsible to it's
very own goals and aspirations.
If Harvard was burdened by financial hardship, perhaps this resistance
would be easier to fathom. But Harvard clearly claims no lack of ability
to pay. Stanford University has also never claimed an inability to pay
its workers a fair wage, clearly evidenced by budget excesses in the
hundreds of millions of dollars each year. When an expenditure promises
to bring the university additional prestige, there is seldom any
substantive resistance or debate. Highly esteemed faculty, new business
ventures, or public relations campaigns are all cheerfully endowed with
generous funding in the hope of furthering the prestige of the
university.
It is most unfortunate that the workers who maintain the university, who
keep it safe and clean, who provide housing and meals to the students,
are not regarded similarly by your administration. It is unacceptable
that because they do not add to the university's prestige and public
image, they are considered of minimal value and treated accordingly. The
administration does nothing to challenge this, to treat all of their
workers with respect, pay them a living wage, and make this treatment a
source of prestige for the university. Indeed, such efforts are only
paid lip service, and subsequently resisted by your administration.
So you have left no options other than the course the courageous students
at your university have chosen to take. They have taken it upon
themselves to make your treatment of low-wage workers shameful and
hypocritical, and they have generated massive public support for their
goals. They have only done this because your administration has failed
to, after years of dialogue that excluded workers and produced little to
change the situation. They are taking a stand for the high ideals that
Harvard University is supposed to embody.
I urge you to teach them the right lesson, President Rudenstine. Teach
them that hard work deserves a living wage in return. That the fair
treatment of those who labor to provide them with their esteemed
education and a safe environment should also be a source of prestige and
respect for Harvard. That the high values and goals of society which you
claim to uphold are genuine, and not a smokescreen for vanity or pride.
The students of Harvard have focused the attention of the public on you,
and we are watching anxiously to see what lesson will emerge. I hope
that you agree to negotiate a living wage for all workers at Harvard--
and make it a lesson we can all be proud of.
Sincerely,
Zev Kvitky
President, United Stanford Workers
Stanford University, CA
Date: Wed, 2 May 2001 01:38:54 -0400
Subject: Support for Harvard Living Wage Campaign (from an Alumnus of the
University)
It has been almost two weeks since I forwarded the attached note
and I have yet to receive any response from any Harvard University
administrator. It is good to know that as an alumnus of the university,
that although I am constantly besieged with requests for donations to
assist Harvard in maintaining its high degree of excellence amongst the
top ranking institutions of higher learning, when an alumnus raises a
concern such concern falls on deaf ears. Your response to your students
and your alumni has be pitiful to say the least. Sitting in the ivory
tower and shutting the doors to the needs of society while preaching the
values to which one should aspire is a disservice to your students and
the reputation of the university amongst its alumni and society at large.
You have my condolences,
Dino Barajas
Date: Tue, 1 May 2001 13:03:20 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Living Wage
Dear Jeremy Knowles and colleagues:
Since you are the dean of the faculty of Arts and Sciences, let me remind
you of the words of one important historical leader. "It is a crime for
people to live in this rich nation and receive starvation wages."
--Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Your school is educating the future leaders of this country. You should
be proud that your students demonstrate a social conscience and
committment to economic justice as well. It is unconscionable to pay
your workers anything less than $10.25 an hour WITH FULL BENEFITS. I hope
you and the other Harvard administrators will do what is just and
immediately upgrade your workers' pay. I'm sure that Harvard
administrators are also aware of US Labor laws protecting workers' rights
to organize and bargain collectively. Anywhere those basic civil rights
are abused, an injury to those workers becomes an injury to ALL. Let me
remind you of another historical quote: "Without our brains and muscles,
not a single wheel will turn..." (attribution unknown)
Keep that in mind as you stroll down the gleaming halls of your esteemed
university. There is NO work that is unimportant. All honest work has
dignity. And all working men and women deserve a living wage.
Agitating for a better tomorrow/Solidarity,
Cris D'Angelo local 1625 United Food & Commercial Workers, Florida.
Date: Tue, 1 May 2001 11:54:59 -0700
From: Ron Weisberg
Subject: Support for a Living Wage
Dear Educators,
I urge you to pay Harvard's workers a living wage. Ending the awful
publicity should be worth that at the least.
I am a part-time custodian out here in California (where even custodian's
have Ph.D's). The Unitarian church I work for chooses as a matter of
principle to pay its employee's a living wage, though its budget is far
less robust than Harvard's.
Respectfully,
Ron Weisberg, Ph.D
ronwei@california.com
Date: Tue, 1 May 2001 11:03:22 -0500
From: Rod Kessler
Subject: Alumnus for Living Wage
President Rudenstine:
I am proud of my Harvard background and gladly serve as a fundraiser for
the Harvard College Fund and as a committee members for reunion
planning and the like. I want to add my voice to those urging you to
implement the "living wage" policy across the board. My wife and I have
for years hired students from Pennypacker and Hurlbut to babysit our
little boy (Class of '13??). We pay $10 and hour. Please think about
how the low end of Harvard's pay scale strikes us.
I will be proud of Harvard when it joins the city of Cambridge in a
fair wages policy.
--Rod Kessler'71
Coordinator, the Honors Program
Professor of English
Date: Tue, 01 May 2001 08:09:05 -0700
From: Peter Dreier
Subject: Please support demands for a living wage for Harvard employees
Dear President Rudenstine and other Harvard administrators:
I am writing to encourage you to grant all Harvard employees, both direct
and those working for subcontractors, a living wage of $10.25/hr plus
benefits. Harvard cannot operate without its workers. Currently, many
of these workers live below the poverty line, and must work outrageous
hours in order to make ends meet. This is blatantly unjust. Bob Herbert's
New York Times column noted that Harvard should have higher values that
the corporate bottom line. I agree.
As the former director of housing for the City of Boston (1984-92), I
know that housing prices in the Boston/Cambridge metro area are beyond
the reach of most working families earning less than $15/hour.
I encourage you to honor the protesters' additional demands for fair
working condition both at home and abroad, and join the Workers' Rights
Consortium. Only by doing so will the University truly uphold the Code
of Conduct that it has already passed. Occidental College, where I teach,
has not only joined the WRC; it has also contracted with a clothing
contractor (Plains T-Shirt) in Pennsylvania, whose workers are covered by
a contract between their employer and UNITE labor union, to provide
t-shirts with the college's logo. We have a "no-sweat" zone in our campus
bookstore. Students and other consumers can thus be confident that this
clothing is made by employees whose working conditions comply with the
college's code-of-conduct.
I encourage you, too, to negotiate with students who are currently taking
action on this issue. They are, in fact, pursuing what I can only assume
are values cherished by Harvard. They are thinking critically about
issues of pressing social concern and taking action on their principles.
Sincerely,
Peter Dreier
Dr. E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics
Director, Urban & Environmental Policy Program
Occidental College
Los Angeles
Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 18:52:57 -0700
Subject: Living Wage at Harvard
Dear President Rudenstine,
I am writing to express my concern about poverty wages on campus. I
believe people who work at Harvard deserve to be paid enough to live in
dignity above the poverty level and support a family. I urge you to
follow the Cambridge City Council's lead in implementing a $10.25 per
hour living wage policy. This is an opportunity for Harvard, as one of
the most prestigious and wealthiest universities in the world, to set an
example in fair employment practices
Sincerely yours,
Judy Hung, AB 1999
Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 10:20:49 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: a living wage
4.30.01
Dear President Rudenstine:
My name is Alex Cho '96, and I am writing in support of a living wage for
Harvard's workers. Harvard has long been recognized as a global leader,
in substantial part due to the strength of its good name. It has
parlayed this reputation into an endowment of staggering proportions,
recently enlarged by a successful Capital Campaign. Now the world
watches to see whether Harvard will do the right thing, given its
standing and wealth, whether it deserves its good name.
I am actually in Seoul, Korea at this time; and am writing after having
heard of the student action via email and reading a piece on it that
appeared in the Korea Herald (April 27, p 4), a daily published here in
Seoul. I wanted to be sure it is known that internationally, too, people
are watching. And here, given the fundamental role that joint student
and labor activism has had in transforming Korea from dictator-led
developing nation into a modern democracy with a vast and prosperous
middle class, the story has a special resonance.
It warms my heart to hear that student courage at Harvard runs so high,
and that their love is so great, that they would struggle this hard to
push Harvard to live up to its name. It would be much easier not to care
at all.
As a student, I was active with other students in pushing for race and
ethnic studies; I was also active in the Asian American Association
(AAA), founded over 20 years ago out of a spirit of student activism. I
read your statement, President Rudenstine, and respect your opinion too,
but as someone was part of an ongoing effort to create change on
Harvard's terms but with little to show even after more than a decade of
negotiation and meeting, I would argue that radical action in support of
a living wage was needed to create a scrutiny of sufficient magnitude
that would in turn achieve that most elusive thing that all onlookers
hope for: accountability. That Harvard would do what it says it would
do; that it would do what it should do. That rather than overlook or
undermine the well-meaning efforts of caring students, it would embrace
them as emblematic of what makes Harvard great.
And as an alum, I have had occasion to talk with other alumni about why
we collectively refuse to donate our money or time, why we don't plan to
come to reunion events, why our Harvard Magazine still goes home to our
folks, and why in our minds our membership in Harvard's club may ever be
tainted. These alumni includes founders of the AAA, who still refuse to
donate to Harvard. It has everything to do with Harvard's consistent
rejection of those ideas that push it to reflect postmodern realities
rather than hold fast to old ways. A living wage for Harvard's essential
workers appears to be just the latest example.
So I would urge you, President Rudenstine, to now do the right thing.
Your presidency has seen Harvard's wealth swell as the result of your
ceaseless efforts; now your presidency can also see Harvard's wealth
spread, also as the work of your hands, to the people that make Harvard
run. You may yet see us recalcitrant alumni reach into our own pockets,
if Harvard's workers see $10.25 an hour in theirs.
Respectfully yours,
Alex Cho '96
Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 22:31:21 EDT
Dear Mr. Rudenstine, Mr. Fineberg, Ms. Zeckhauser, Mr. Lewis, and Ms.
Price:
I am a 1993 graduate of Harvard College. Currently I work in Washington,
DC for a national network that promotes increased employment, development
and educational opportunites for young people, particularly low-income
youth. Harvard prepared me well to be this kind of advocate. Given my
work and my beliefs, I must write to express my grave concern about the
about poverty wages on campus at Harvard. I believe people who work at
Harvard deserve to be paid enough to live in dignity above the poverty
level and support a family. I urge you to follow the Cambridge City
Council's lead in implementing a $10.25 per hour living wage policy. This
is an opportunity for Harvard, as one of the most prestigious and
wealthiest universities in the world, to set an example in fair
employment practices. I have donated to Harvard/Radcliffe in the past and
will have to think twice if your poverty wages continue. Thank you for
your attention and please, do the right thing so Harvard can continue to
be a place that teaches their students about the dignity of all people.
Sincerely,
Katherine E. O'Sullivan
Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 17:32:14 -0400
From: Tivey
To: Office of the President
Subject: support for the Living Wage campaign and for the Sit-In
President Rudenstine-
I wish to let you know of my support for the Living Wage
Campaign and for the Progressive Student Labor
Movement's Sit-In. These students are not alone in their
concerns regarding Living Wage issues. I believe the
PSLM speaks for many of us in the Harvard Community,
and I am proud of, and grateful for, their words and deeds.
I look forward to a just and fair resolution with your help.
Most respecfully,
Ken Tivey, ALB '97
Staff Assistant III, Department of Economics
HUCTW activist
Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2001 09:33:57 -0400
From: Sayres S. Rudy
To: Office of the President
Subject: Re: Facts and fallacies about employment at Harvard
How long do you think that transparent euphemisms and slippery
rationalizations can distract or fool those whom you would lecture rather
than publicly debate? "Total compensation", "only 500", and on and on
will be remembered for what they are, the authoritarian fluff of the
court apologist who would rather spend time, money, and energy on
obfuscation and shell-games issued from behind closed doors than come out
into the light and debate honestly.
Do you really think so many diverse and intelligent people are wrong or
so easily befuddled?!
Sayres Rudy
ps FYI, I am an example of someone who have been won over to the protests
more by the administration's intransigence and manifest fabrications (I
study absolutist ideology) than by any other single cause. Debate openly
in a public forum, and come to compromise, or you will never win
credibility.
Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2001 12:26:39 -0400
From: desiree enayati
Subject: Alum plea to Harvard
Dear Mr. Fineberg,
I am writing as an alum of the class of '94 to express my concern about
the poverty wages on campus. People who work at Harvard or anywhere
deserve to be paid enough to live in dignity, in order to both live above
the poverty level and to support a family. I urge you to follow the
Cambridge City Council's lead in implementing a $10.25 per hour living
wage policy.
I was very moved to hear the Mayor of Cambridge speak in support of the
student protestors, urging Harvard to fulfill its duty to the people of
Cambridge. I have been attending the noon rallies and 8pm vigils and I
intend to continue to support the student protestors until Harvard
institutes a living wage for all Harvard workers.
This is an opportunity for Harvard, as one of the most prestigious and
wealthiest universities in the world, to set an example in fair
employment practices. I pledge to donate $100 to Harvard student
financial aid when a living wage is instituted. I will not donate any
money to Harvard until such a time.
Sincerely,
Desirée Enayati
From: John Womack
To: Jeremy R Knowles
Subject: Re: Urgent Meeting Today
Dear Dean Knowles,
Thanks for the notice. Because of other academic duties, viz., a
Mellon Conference planned months ago, I unhappily cannot attend the
meeting this afternoon. If an electronically communicated opinion is
worth recording, here is mine, in a few points: (1) Probably a large
majority of the FAS would vehemently reiterate vulgar Smithist arguments
in support of the Faculty Committee's recommendation to the president,
and in support of the president's decision, to leave the question of
wages to the labor market, but that does not make the recommendation or
the decision right. (2) Educating the workers presently in the miserably
paid jobs so that they can take higher-paid jobs is an evasion of the
issue, because all that would do is leave the miserably paid jobs for
others to fill. (3) No one working full time all year at the current
wages for those jobs, making $14,000 a year gross, could live above the
level of abject poverty in the Boston Area. It would take two such
salaries to allow life in the simplest poverty. Whatever a majority of
the Harvard FAS or the University at large may think, or vote, it is a
revolting disgrace for Harvard to pay such wages. (4) The plea for
collective bargaining is fatuous, dishonest, and insulting so long as the
University, thanks to S. Zeckhauser et al., seeks to avoid bargaining
with unions whenever possible, particularly by resorting to
subcontractors specifically in the business of supplying desperately
cheap non-union labor.
In other words, I think that the students, finally for lack of
any better alternative, have done the right thing--peacefully and
harmlessly sitting in a building to embarrass the university into doing
the decent thing for its lowliest employees.
Yours,
John Womack, Jr.
Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2001 21:06:47 -0400 (EDT)
From: Rajesh Gopakumar
To: Office of the President
Subject: Re: Facts and fallacies about employment at Harvard
Mr. Wrinn,
I find this whole effort by the president's office to demonstrate
how the university's "generous" wage policy has been misrepresented by a
"small" group of students most disingenous. I also find the portrayal of
conscientious civil disobedience on the part of the PSLM students as
"coercive" behaviour very offensive. Especially when it comes from an
administration that exerts its coercive powers very effectively when
dealing with unions (in the oh-so-fair sounding "collective bargaining
process") and unorganised labour.
Your letter does not address many of the central points raised by the
PSLM such as
1. How can a handpicked committee without student or worker
representatives (and next to no consulation with the same) be portrayed
as an honest scrutiny of the living wage issue?
2. How can increased benefits substitute for wages when the primary
burden on workers are increased rents and other living expenses in the
cambridge/boston area?
3. In what sense is it justifiable that there are even 400 fulltime
workers who earn less than the living wage, however small a fraction that
maybe of the total workforce?
4. By no reckoning is complying with the cambridge living ordinance going
to be a financial burden on harvard. On what grounds then can Harvard
deny what many other employers in cambridge pay? Hiding behind words like
"competitive" compensation does not disguise the naked immorality of
denying workers a decent living because the market allows you to do so.
I think it is time the administration realised its isolation
and its moral alienation from the university community, with
respect to its niggardly, legalistic position on the issue of the PSLM
sitin and living wages. All attempts to characterise the
students in Mass. Hall as a minority ( forty six students are a "few
dozen" in the president's statement) are laughable at this stage and only
likely to rebound on the administration.
I have the conviction of Gandhi that Truth and Justice will prevail.
Yours sincerely,
Rajesh Gopakumar
Research Associate,
Dept. of Physics,
Harvard University
Dear Administrators:
I am writing to register my support of the Harvard Living-Wage Campaign.
I have been following this campaign very closely since it began. I have
read all the literature available, from both sides as well as independent
scholarly writings on economic justice, fair labor practices, and living
wage policies. I am also writing as a former 'temporary' employee and
current Staff Assistant at the Kennedy School of Government. I know
first-hand how difficult it is to live even modestly while working at
Harvard. I have held two-jobs in order to pay for my room in a shared
apartment in Somerville. I have tried commuting to Cambridge from
Providence, RI (the only place I could find that I could afford). I have
taken advantage of the TAP program and other educational and enrichment
opportunities and yet still I struggle. I struggle while making upwards
of $15/hour, far less than the $10.25 being demanded by the living-wage
campaign. This is a very serious problem and I commend those
participating in the sit-in for their action in bringing this matter to
national attention. You have been inconvenienced by their presence, but
consider what these workers (each one earning less than $10.25 per hour)
must endure in order to raise their families with dignity. We have good
people working among us. These are creative, caring, hard-working
individuals that should be compensated for their contribution to the
community. I agree with the innovative suggestions put forth by the
Ad-Hoc Committee, because it is important to recognize the emotional and
intellectual needs of individuals, not simply the economic needs. But
they must be used to supplement a living-wage. They need to afford food
and shelter before enjoying the luxuries of art and education.
I urge you to do the right thing, pay all Harvard employees a wage they
can live on.
Sincerely,
AnnMarie Greeley O'Connor
Dear President Rudenstine,
My name is Emmanuel Smadja, I am a second year engineering student at
the university of Virginia.
I am aware of the Sit-In and related events at Harvard university and I
support a living wage of 10.25 an hour
plus medical benefits, adjusted yearly for inflation, as per the
Cambridge City Ordinance.
The battle for "The Living Wage" is not just a battle at Harvard
University, it is a battle across and for our country.
I strongly believe that, as one of the leading schools in the
US, Harvard should show the example and provide
every worker with the requested minimum wage.
Sincerely,
Emmanuel Smadja
Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2001 09:06:47 -0400
Subject: Instituting a Living Wage
Dear Dean Knowles and President Rudenstine:
How much longer can this continue? The only leverage the students
have, like all those engaging in civil disobedience, is their occupation
of space.
To refuse to negotiate until they leave is ridiculous on its face.
But who can judge the fitness of things? As the days go by, the
world gets a good lesson in the compassion of the people who run
Harvard, and into the basic inequities of the modern American labor
system. Perhaps as the length of the students' occupation continues,
more and more people will be forced to confront the problem of people
who work full-time in America and yet fall below the poverty line, and
how wealthy corporations such as Harvard refuse to accept their part in
this sordid equation.
I have wondered if it is because the Harvard Corporation Board is made
up of executives who run corporations like Taco Bell, who pay their
employees abysmally, that the administration is so intransigent. If, as
Joe Wrinn says, the University's mission is education, why are there so
many such corporate executives determining its policies?
Indeed, Harvard's mission IS educating. What if it taught the world
how to run a fair workplace, instead of how to turn a $120 million
profit on the backs of low-wage workers? Right now it is educating the
world in ways that will not redound to its credit.
Please reconsider, and do all you can to make us proud of Harvard
again.
Andree Pages, 1977
Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2001 08:32:34 -0400 (EDT)
From: Paul Dafydd Jones
Dear President Rudenstein, Provost Fineburg, Ms. Sally Zeckhauser, Dean
Lewish, Ms. Polly Price, Dean Knowles
I am writing to express my strong support for the 'Living Wage' protest
now ongoing in Massachusetts Hall. And I am writing to express my dismay
at the University's complicity in a perpetuating an unjust wage for
hundreds of Harvard workers. As an international student, I was attracted
to Harvard's commitment to excellence. But this excellence has been
compromised massively by Harvard's refusal to guarantee a living wage for
many of its workers. I am presently ashamed to be a student at an
institution that disregards the most basic needs of many it employs.
The terms 'right' and 'disruption' were used in President Rudenstein's
statement on the protest. The use of these terms show what a topsy-turvy
world the administration inhabits. The issue here is not that students do
not have the 'right' to inhabit a building -- the issue here is that
workers have the right to receive a living wage. The issue here is not
that the protesters are being 'disruptive' -- it is rather that the
primary disruption is that suffered by workers who receive $6.25 an
hour. I ask each and everyone of you: would you ever work for this wage?
Yet you each are willing to let this happen at Harvard. And that is
something about which you should be losing sleep.
Yours respectfully,
Paul Dafydd Jones
Dear Joe Wrinn et. al--
I have been wondering for days if the distortions and prevarications
committed by your office are the result of careful calculation or simple
incompetence. (A year ago, I might have imagined other possibilities,
but you have left us with these two and nothing more.) I must say that
your recent e-mail brought me no closer to a conclusion. It's an
interesting question, to me: is Professor Rudenstine (in his public
incarnation, at least) not a passive mouthpiece of the Harvard
Corporation but a knowing one, willing to contribute his personal
rhetoric and resources in the service of the spin that they desire? Or
is he actually helpless, a fundraising idiot-savant throwing up his
hands, flummoxed, lacking any real power but unable to admit he's just a
figurehead? Although the first case is perhaps more sinister, I prefer
it to the second: people have moral conversions more often than puppets
come to life. But even in the latter case I will not give up hope. As
it stands, Professor Rudenstine will be remembered only by those whose
main touchstone in life is money--but this could change. Even though he
could not personally decide, at least in isolation, to grant workers a
living wage (and noone who knows anything about these issues thinks he
could), his support would be of immeasurable value to far more than the
400--or rather 1000+--workers who would benefit most immediately from new
policies.
I leave it up to those more versed in the specifics of the PSLM's history
to strip the sloppily applied white paint from the crumbling wall that is
your letter. I will end with this question, and this thought: why is it
that _every single group_ in this community--workers, students, teaching
fellows, full professors, alumni, townspeople--has lined up and in some
cases gone to the line for a living wage, while the people most
responsible for the community's health and happiness--the
administration-- have remained silent or worse? I love this place, and
because I love it I am ashamed of it. It is solid on the ground and
rotten at the top.
Sincerely,
George Collins
PS. If you are willing to pass the buck--no, drop it, rather, or try to
hide it in your pocket--while SSI workers under your employ are working
96-hour weeks to support themselves and their families, I see no reason
to expect you to follow your own rules about email lists; but so help me
God, talk to me as a person or don't talk to me at all. If I get
anything even slightly like a mass email in response to this I will go to
HCS and make
letter to President Rudenstine from Congressman Barney Frank
(D-MA)
April 26, 2001
Mr. Neil Rudenstine
President
Harvard University
Massachusetts Hall
Cambridge, MA 02138
Dear Neil,
I'm writing to express my support for the proposal that Harvard institute
a living wage policy, and begin to pay all Harvard employees a minimum of
$10.25 an hour plus appropriate benefits, with a commitment to make
inflation adjustments in the future. I am proud of my Harvard
affiliations and I am pleased to be able to work with Harvard from time
to time on legislation. I will be even prouder if Harvard adopts a policy
which says that it will not pay its hard working employees at less than
the wage needed to stay out of poverty.
I have noted statements from the University indicating that only a few
hundred employees of all those who are employed by Harvard are now paid
less than this. That seems to me an excellent reason for implementing the
idea quickly. That is, you have a chance to set an important moral
example for the rest of the country - one of the functions of a great
University - without incurring enormous costs. I think it is a very good
thing for our society that Harvard is as wealthy as it is, because the
University generally uses resources in ways that enrich the common good.
Diverting a fairly small percentage of those resources to making sure
that none of the people who work for Harvard are paid sub-poverty wages
seems to me to enhance rather than to detract from the University's
beneficial impact on the world.
At the federal level I supported a smaller increase in the minimum wage,
because I think there is a difference between the level that the federal
government can impose on every employer, and the level that is
appropriate for a wealthy, charitable institution to implement on its
own. That is, I hope Harvard does not take the position that it meets its
moral obligations by complying with the minimal requirements of the law,
because the University of which I am proud should have more than a
negative obligation not to break the law. And it seems to me morally
unacceptable for the hard working people that work for the University,
especially those who are in fairly difficult jobs, to be paid so little
by an entity which is so wealthy. I urge you strongly to act immediately
to implement this sensible, decent, and not very expensive proposal.
Barney Frank
Sirs:
I am always interested to hear your reasons for not negotiating with
students about the living wage campaign -- an issue that so dramatically
underscores the poverty of spirit within the present Harvard community.
As an alumna, as a law student, as a tutor, and as an officer of the
University, I would like to think that Harvard is more a community than a
corporation. Sadly, it seems that this is not the view of the present
administration.
I am especially disappointed to hear that President Rudenstine has chosen
to disengage as dramatically from the student body as he has done. From
my first weeks on campus, when Rudy joined my FUP group for dinner in the
basement of UniLu -- sitting with his legs crossed on the table
afterwards to talk about the college with fresh-faced first years -- to
about a month later, when my roommates and I proudly hung our "We love
our Neil" banner from the fire escapes of Weld South to welcome our new
President, I have always believed Rudenstine to be a fair individual, and
thought him personally invested in seeing that all members of his
community are able to support themselves on the wages they earn from
their hard and decent work.
I still have difficulty imagining him some other way, and appreciate any
information you might have to enlighten me on his change of heart, mind
and morals. In the meantime, I will remain with my students and
colleagues, professors and friends who are sacrificing to maintain the
vigil and protest under the grand green canopy of Harvard Yard and the
sit-in within Massachusetts Hall. They are the Harvard community to which
I am proud to belong.
Cordially,
Amelie von Briesen
A.B. '95/J.D. '01(ant.)
Resident Tutor in Law and Fellowships
Harvard College
President Rudenstine:
I am a second year graduate student in the Government Department, and I
write to you tonight adding my name to the voices of those demanding a
living wage for Harvard employees.
Like many grad students, I took time off before beginning my graduate
education. I spent one of the years I took off living in Santa Fe New
Mexico, where I earned $6 an hour working as a cook. I wasn't able to
pay my rent - even though rents are not as high as they are in Cambridge,
they were still out of my price range. I had to take a second job at the
same hourly wage, and I worked 70-80 hours a week. What was supposed to
be a year of relaxation turned into one of the hardest years of my life.
Getting up for work at 8 AM and not getting home until nearly 1 six or
seven days a week meant I had no time for friends, no time (or money) for
skiing, and no time to enjoy the beautiful New Mexico scenery. I had no
health insurance, and had to have emergency dental work done, which cost
me several weeks of income due to missed work, and hundreds of dollars
which took me months to pay off.
What's the difference between me and the people who your university is
underpaying? I had options. I could decide to leverage my liberal arts
degree and use it to get a better paying job. I didn't have a family to
support, so I could pick up and move to another city.
Doing all of these things brought me to where I am today: in graduate
school, in such an 'ivory tower' that it took me a week to realize how
important this issue should be to all of us, to put down my books and my
general exam preparation and to drop you this note. I'm mad at myself
for taking a week to pull my head out of my books, but I am madder that
an august institution such as Harvard is setting such an example.
I spent years in college defending women's rights to choose, arguing that
this right was a critical part of human rights. Well, so is the right to
live in a dignified manner. And it is this that Harvard denies its
employees. The benefit package you offered employees is certainly a step
toward improving their quality of life, but the fact remains that the
issue at its base is financial: people need more money to live.
My undergraduate degree is from Haverford College, where I was steeped in
the traditions and values of Quakers. They teach that everyone is to be
valued and respected as a person: that is what this is all about. I
demand that all employees of Harvard be treated with the respect that
they deserve.
Sincerely,
Hillel Soifer
Department of Government
Harvard University
Dear President Rudenstine, Professor Fineberg, Vice-President Zeckhauser,
Dean Lewis, and Vice-President Price,
As an alumna of Harvard (AB '93) and a current employee at HSPH, I am
writing to express my strong support for the Harvard Living Wage
Campaign.
I am particularly concerned about subcontracted employees, such as the
cleaning workers of White Glove who work at HSPH. The lady who cleans our
office in the mornings, Fausta, works three jobs to support her children
and usually looks tired and ill when I see her. I believe that it is
simply
wrong for Harvard, with the vast financial resources it possesses, to
contract with businesses who do not pay their employees enough to support
their families. I have felt proud of my alma mater in the past, but I
cannot say I am now. I strongly urge you to reconsider university policy
on
this matter.
Many thanks for your consideration.
Yours sincerely,
Laura Horton
36 Meacham Road
Somerville, MA 02144
Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 17:53:24 -0400
Subject: Livable wage for Harvard employees
To Whom It May Concern:
As a graduate of Harvard College, I am disgusted and embarrassed that the
University still refuses to pay ALL of its employees a living wage. It
is inexcusable that this incredibly wealthy institution refuses to offer
affordable benefit packages to all workers, and outsources jobs to firms
that pay poverty-level wages. These are the people who really make the
University function.
As a legal services attorney for senior citizens who are often paid a
pittance in Social Security, I am confronted every day with the lasting
injustice of paying workers less than a living wage.
Negotiate now with the students who are sitting in to demand that all
Harvard employees and "independent contractors" are paid a living wage,
and please be assured that I will not make any gifts to the University
until all Harvard workers are paid a living wage, and will urge all of my
fellow alumni to do the same.
Sincerely,
Rebecca T. Plummer, Esq., '93
Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 16:32:08 -0400 (EDT)
To whom it may concern,
We the undersigned are members of the theoretical high energy physics
research group at Harvard. We are proud of the academic and physical
environment in our group, which makes it one of the most exciting
centres of high energy physics in the world.
We are, however, concerned that this environment is facilitated, in part,
by workers who are remunerated poorly, as
has been highlighted by the recent student protests on the issue.
We believe that Harvard has an obligation to comply with basic
standards of decency, especially in its dealings with its
poorest employees. We add our voice to that of others demanding that it
do so.
Researchers
Mina Aganagic
Jose Edelstein
Rajesh Gopakumar
Aaron Grant
Kentaro Hori
Shiraz Minwalla
Carlos Nunez
Boris Pioline
Andrew Strominger
John Terning
Graduate Students
Ruth A. Britto-Pacumio
Matthew Headrick
Alex Maloney
Kyungho Oh
Anastasia Volovitch
Stanford, California
> Thursday, April 26, 2001
>
>Dear President Rudenstine:
>
>We, the students of Stanford University, are writing to voice our support
>for a living wage of $10.25 per hour plus benefits for all employees of
>Harvard University, both direct and subcontracted. We hope that this letter
>reminds you that the problem has not gone unnoticed, that even we in the
>Stanford community consider the living wage dispute a major issue. Of
>course, Harvard depends on all of its employees in order to function on a
>daily basis, including the many who are currently receiving poverty wages.
>Yours is an institution that prides itself on an outstanding reputation. Now
>is the time to live up to such a reputation by demonstrating, at the least,
>your concern for the
>economic well-being of all your employees. As you know, a
>living wage is fair, just, and necessary compensation, and we would like to
>see it established at Harvard right away.
>
>We also ask that you open negotiations with protestors. Your
>refusal to respond to the protestors and the requests of a great number
>of people both within and without Harvard - not only workers, but also
>faculty, political figures, students, and staff - has only a
>negative impact on the situation, perpetuating the problem rather than
>approaching a solution. We want to see positive steps taken towards a
>just end to the conflict.
>
>While we appreciate your stated intent to provide workers with fair
>compensation, we urge you once again to practice what you preach.
>You have sought to silence voices of opposition since the onset of this
>controversy. A living minimum wage plus benefits is something you
>can reasonably provide for all your workers, yet you steadfastly hold
>out for the status quo. The facts do not match your claims, and the
>time has come for you to do what is right. We are following the
>proceedings closely, and we look forward to hearing of the dispute's
>resolution.
>
>Sincerely,
(many, many Stanford students)
Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 17:23:35 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: Message from the President
Your perspective, sir, was both brief, as you said, and limited.
Just a reminder:
41 students in Mass Hall . . . 30+ tents outside . . . The City Council of
Cambridge . . . The State and the Head of the National Democratic Party .
. . Dozens of student groups including PBHA and half of the Crimson
editors . . . All of the workers unions . . . The AFL-CIO . . . hundreds
and hundreds of students from the college and the K/Div/Ed schools . . .
All of Mass.' state reps and senators . . . every school in Boston which
pays its workers a living wage . . . 200+ faculty who signed a letter
supporting the sit-in only 24 hours after the letter was drafted . . .
Hundreds of alums who are with-holding giving . . . The Ed school
administration which is now conducting an investigation into the
outsourcing of their workers . . . CNN, NY Times, NPR.
And you still think this is just a few dozen students? And you still
think that you are right?
Why were none of the faculty and workers now protesting put on that elite
committee to investigate the subject? Your letter declares the dialogues
of communication closed, slammed shut by that committee, and yet you claim
to approach us eager for open dialogue. Instead of philabustering
indefinitely with office hours, come out into the open and debate the
issues. As a scientist, I value empiral evidence and sir the bulk of
evidence that I have gathered on my original quest to discredit what I saw
as a bunch of self-righteous radicals convinced me to watch the door of
Mass Hall at 3 AM, pitch my tent, and join the picket at 8 AM.
The facts are against you. The ethical arguments are against you.
Basic human decency is against you. Listen to the people you claim to
care about, so that at your next fund raiser you can extol the educational
virtues of harvard and fill its coffers not with empty words,
but with intellectual capital to build halls and walls dedicated to the
Veritas we claim to represent.
Respectfully but sorrowfully yours,
--Devin Powell, Class of '03
Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 16:55:33 -0400
To: Office of the President
Subject: LIARS
Having emailed previously asking for information toward the beginning of the
sit-in, and having been granted that request, I now realize that the
university is distorting its own information gathered in the ad hoc
committee's report as long as it possibly can. The students no longer
believe you. The faculty no longer believe you. The community has never
believed you. I used to have faith in this university. You have taken that
faith away from me through your blatant lies to the students here and to the
media in an attempt to get a good press release. Good Riddance, President
Rudenstine, and SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
David Krych, Class of 2003
iDate: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 16:15:32 -0400 (EDT)
From: Simon Rippon
Subject: Re: Message from the President
Dear President Rudenstine,
I was disappointed with the patronising tone of your message in the way it
refers to those campaigning for a living wage only in terms of "a few
dozen students" actually involved in the sit-in. You may have noticed that
in recent days, hundreds of students, alumni and faculty have actively
supported the campaign with public letters of support and participation in
activities outside of Mass Hall. This underlines the point of the campaign
- not to "coerce" a decision, but to mobilize the support for fair wages
that the administration has failed to recognize in all quarters of the
university. The workers' collective bargaining and unionizing process you
express support for is being undercut by subcontracting and an unfair balance
of
power between workers and their employer, the University, and we believe
that it is only moral for us to stand up and redress that balance by
standing in support of those too weak in this institutional structure to
stand up for themselves. Every reflective supporter of the sit-in and
related events regrets any disruption caused to those living and working
around Mass Hall, but the nature of this protest is peacable and has
presented no serious threat to the functioning of any part of the
university or to the ability of the residents of Mass Hall to study. I am
deeply proud of being a part of a universtiy in which that "few
dozen" students and many, many others have taken actions not without
personal risk in support of their principle of fairness and equality.
Please recognise our wishes as a university, and take steps to implement a
wage floor of 10.25 + benefits for Harvard workers immediately.
Yours,
Simon Rippon,
Graduate Student,
Department of Philosophy.
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 22:34:49 -0400
Subject: This is not a demand
Dear Administrators,
Though I believe these to be important issues, I am not writing to
demand that Harvard grant its employees -- both direct and subcontracted
-- a living wage of $10.25/hr plus benefits. Nor am I writing to demand
that you join the Workers' Rights Consortium and agree to fair working
conditions both at home and abroad. I am writing to ask that you treat
the students currently occupying Mass. Hall as well as the faculty
members and the undergraduate and graduate students who have expressed
support for the living wage campaign as serious interlocutors in the
debate over living wages for Harvard employees.
You will certainly contend that by refusing to accept the
recommendations of the Ad-hoc committee and by occupying Mass. Hall, the
students are the ones who are refusing to treat the administration as
serious interlocutors. The facts are well known (even if their
interpretation is contentious) so I will not repeat them. But let me
suggest something I am sure has already occurred to you: the students
have not decided to employ the means they have because they do not want
a sincere and legitimate discussion on the issue. The have adopted the
means they have because they feel -- not without reason -- that the
administration has refused to treat them with the respect owed an
interlocutor in any candid debate. Again, I am sure this possibility
has already occurred (or been pointed out) to you as it has been cited
over and over by the students as their prime reason for their actions,
but let me urge you to consider this possibility again and more
seriously. Reflect on the fact that as rational beings, we are all
responsive to reasons and if the Administration were able to supply
cogent and morally supportable reasons for their stance, the students
would respond appropriately -- i.e. by conceding or by providing
countervailing reasons which could then be further debated -- instead of
by occupying Mass. Hall. That the students have occupied Mass. Hall
suggests either that the Administration has not offered any such
reasons, or that the students are not rational; a possibility you may
snicker about in private but which is devoid of any plausibility.
I presume that even if we disagree on how Harvard employees are to be
treated and compensated for their work we are all agreed on the
standards and conventions that govern genuine respectful debate.
Outwardly, you will no doubt insist that the Administration has
conformed to those standards, but I urge you to re-evaluate your actions
and intentions, to dispense with your disingenuousness, and to return to
the bargaining table for a resumption (or a beginning?) of serious
discussion on this important issue.
Sincerely,
Christopher Furlong
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 22:19:44 EDT
Subject: This is getting embarrassing
Dear Harvard leaders:
This is getting embarrassing!! The world media are reporting about how stingy
our beloved university is -- with our gazillion dollar endowment, we're
refusing to pay a few hundred or thousand poorly paid folks who work for us
directly or via contractors a wage they can live on, above the poverty line.
Any excuses you give for this only make it look worse!
You've already spent more money hemming and hawing than it would cost to meet
your the demands of your bright-as-ever students -- and their daily growing
list of supporters, who range from scores of faculty (some whole
departments!) to most of the labor movement to politicians and pop stars.
What a mess we've gotten ourselves into.
May I suggest that you eat humble pie and say uncle? After all, the students
are RIGHT! The ironic question: are the grown-ups grown-up enough to admit
they had something to learn, that they were wrong, that they really couldn't
conceive of living on such a salary, that they wouldn't want any other
breadwinner doing it either, and that the university will henceforth set a
floor of $10.25 plus benefits (adjusted hereafter for inflation, I hope) for
all its direct and contracted workers.
Sincerely,
Andy Levin
Harvard Law School, Class of 1994
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 17:04:30 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Living Wage
Dear President Rudenstine (via Beverly Sullivan),
This is Fran Ansley from the University of Tennessee
College of Law contacting you about a Living Wage.
You may remember that several years ago I wrote to welcome you to the
presidency of Harvard and to tell you a story about looking for you -- (I
was on a quest to locate past inspiring teachers of mine after having
gotten a really nice letter from a student of my own -- You were among
those I sought because of the intensity and joy with which I remember you
teaching my Hum 2 section -- Milton and Shakespeare especially -- but
since I had no idea how to troll for you among the ranks of college
English teachers -- which was where I thought you must be when I didn't
find you listed as teaching any more at Harvard -- I had pretty much
given up the search when I found you in my mailbox on the cover of Harvard
Magazine!)
Anyhow, all that is not to try to butter you up, but to say again that my
image of you sitting cross-legged and reading aloud to us from Paradise
Lost continues to support and inspire me in the work of teaching. Thank
you.
I doubt you are particularly vulnerable to buttering up on the Living Wage
issue in any event. This is not something you take lightly or have not
really thought about, after all. I am aware at least in a general way of
the elaborate study you all undertook on the issue, and of the various
encounters and dialogues that have taken place over the past couple of
years.
I guess all I can do is to say that Harvard ought to do this thing, and
that I sincerely hope you will decide to lead it to do so.
As our society moves further and further into economic and cultural
polarization, and as ever more stratospheric destinations are available to
Ivy League graduates, I think it becomes even more important for
universities to model a more democratic and socially integrated approach
to decisions like the wage structure they create for employees. They
should lead the way in treating these issues as questions for democratic
deliberation and for the conscious testing of values, rather
than as a business decision. Nothing could bring this choice between
"corporate modeling" and "community modeling" more sharply into focus
than the issue of a living wage for low-wage workers at the university.
I am proud of the students who I understand are sitting in at Harvard at
this moment. I consider them to be carrying on an important tradition
of university-based protest with which I personally identify. (A huge
part of the education I got at Harvard was connected to the civics lessons
I learned from and with fellow students, faculty and administrators during
and after civil disobedience actions connected to the war in
Vietnam.) Not every act of civil disobedience is wise or righteous, of course,
and I am not personally familiar with the students involved or the immediacies
of the situation. But I am thoroughly convinced that the issue of wages and
treatment of low-wage workers on university campuses is a truly important one
with an important moral component that merits the utmost
seriousness. And I am glad to know that there are students at Harvard who are
taking up this issue and trying to make a difference.
Of course in the present environment, your job is intensely focused on
the task of getting additional resources for an institution
filled with constituencies who can argue eloquently for how and why they
need more money. That may make it hard for you to visualize how bad it
really looks from the outside when Harvard decides not to pay a living
wage. In your position, it may seem not only plausible, but even natural
to think of Harvard as pinched for the resources it needs. From the
outside, it verges on the grotesque to think about Harvard's resistance to
raising the wage floor above its current level, given living expenses in
Boston and given the salaries enjoyed at the upper reaches.
It would be a great way to go out, leaving a gesture like this behind.
I hope you will seriously consider doing so.
Thanks for your time.
Fran Ansley
Professor of Law
University of Tennessee
Knoxville
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 17:15:46 -0400
Subject: in support of a living wage
Dear President Rudenstine, Provost Fineberg, Vice Presidents Zeckhauser
and Price, and Dean Lewis,
As an alumnus of Harvard College (83) and HGSE (89) and a current
doctoral candidate at the Ed School (02) I am writing to encourage you
to end the stalemate at Massachusetts Hall by granting the demands of
the Campaign for a Living Wage.
In coming to this conclusion, I've carefully read materials available
online from both the University and Campaign's perspective, have
considered President Rudenstine's recent letter to the Harvard community
and have reflected on positions expressed in several recent editorials
published in the Boston Globe both supporting and opposing the Campaign.
I applaud the University's recognition that the compensation paid to the
lowest paid workers is insufficient and agree that some of the benefits
proposed by the University could help improve these workers' longer-term
prospects for employment and economic success. At the same time, these
proposed remedies are insufficient. These benefits cannot be adequately
appreciated if workers must work multiple shifts just to make ends
meet--all the museum admissions in the world cannot pay the rent. In
addition, the University's proposal does not adequately address the very
real dangers of outsourcing and/ or shifts in the structure of hours
worked to avoid the need to pay benefits. The University should
implement the proposed benefits package, perhaps with modifications to
deal with the issues of outsourcing and risk of reduction of hours, _in
addition_ to raising the minimum wage paid to those working for the
University to $10.25 per hour.
At the same time, I am appalled by some of the ways that the University
administration is handling itself in this conflict. First, it seems
hypocritical to me that the University tries to shield itself from
responsibility for paying a living wage by claiming that wage scales
were agreed to in adversarial collective bargaining agreements, even
when the unions have been demanding a living wage for some time. This
smacks of the pseudo-moral stance of the tobacco industry which claims
legal protection against smokers' lack of knowledge of the risks of
smoking based on the existence of the Surgeon General's warnings that
the industry fought tooth and nail to avoid. Even in collective
bargaining situations, employer and union do not necessarily stand in a
position of equal power. Unless those power realities can be addressed
and explicated, this defense of the University's policies seems lame at
best.
In addition, President Rudenstine's call for politeness before further
negotiations can occur seems disingenuous to me. Clearly there have been
long-standing negotiations leading to limited remedies that I understand
have not been implemented in a timely manner. Non-violent resistance
through boycotts, sit-ins, strikes and so forth have a long tradition in
American (and other) political struggles. They are a respectable means
for those who speak with the power of truth and righteousness to stand
up against those who hold the purse strings of more formal power. The
tactics of the Campaign for a Living Wage seem perfectly reasonable to
me within this context.
I urge you to negotiate an end to the sit-in at Mass Hall by agreeing
fully with the demands of the Campain for a Living Wage.
Yours truly,
James K. Hammerman, AB 83, EdM 89, EdD 02
--
James K. Hammerman
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 10:54:55 -0400
Subject: Alum concerns about Living Wage...Pay it Now!!
Not paying a Livable Wage to hundreds of Harvard Employees is
disgraceful. Fire one of the fund managers and that will more than cover
it.
I will not consider any gift to Harvard until all workers at the
Univiersity earn a Livable Wage.
Regards,
Andrew Tripp '93
Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 09:45:13 EDT
Subject: Living Wage Campaign
Dear Ms. Price:
I am rather disturbed by the recalcitrant attitude evinced by the
Harvard Administration towards the Harvard Living-Wage Campaign. As a
professional involved in labor relations (I will acknowledge, on the union
side), the position of the University is one that can only be characterized
as a throw back to the arrogance of the Nathan Pusey era.
Even more upsetting to me is the fact that the nation's wealthiest
university pays far too many of its workers what can only be characterized in
today's economy in the Boston area as a pittance.
As an alumni of both the college and the law school, I would urge that
the University engage in good faith negotiations to insure that any employee
of the University receives sufficient compensation to provide their families
with a decent life style.
Jonathan Walters, Esquire
B.A. 1971, J.D. 1975
Markowitz & Richman
Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 00:23:38 -0400
Subject: A Living Wage for Harvard's Workers
Dear President Rudenstine, Vice-President Zeckhauser & Provost Fineberg,
I am writing to register my support for the courageous action of the
students who are currently occupying Massachusetts Hall in support of
the Living Wage campaign. It is quite clear and obvious to see that the
actions of these students embody the kind of courage, concern and moral
vision of which Harvard should be immensely proud. I implore you to act
with similar courage & vision, to ensure that Harvard's workers can be
sure of a living wage. That an institution like Harvard should be
associated with demeaning working practices, and should allow some of
its workers to live in poverty, is nothing short of a scandal. It is my
sincere hope that this disgraceful situation will soon be put right.
With best regards,
Martin O'Neill
M.A., B.Phil. (Oxford)
G2 - Dept of Philosophy.
Teaching Fellow in Moral Reasoning.
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 23:26:25 -0400
Subject: UofMichigan supports a living wage
Dear Harvard Administrators,
I am writing you this evening representing Students Organizing for
Labor and Economic Equality at the University of Michigan. We here
completely stand behind the Harvard community in demanding that you pay a
living wage to your workers. We also stand behind the demand that any
outsourced or reassigned workers also receive a living wage of $10.25 an
hour plus basic health care. Around the nation students and communities
have been engaged in a struggle with labor to restore respect and dignity
to working people here and across borders. Therefore we support your
students demand that Harvard sign on the Worker Rights Consortium. The WRC
is the next step in the commitment to ensuring that your new code of
conduct governing labor standards is more than a useless document.
If Harvard would like to be considered an elite institution you must
not only show strength in academics but you also much show a strong
commitment to human rights. We feel that your inaction in responding to
these incredibly reasonable demands shows a lack of commitment to human
rights. To be the best Harvard must pay your workers $10.25 an hour with
basic health care. As an institution you cannot teach students to
understand the need and the place for human rights when you refuse to
respect the rights of a vital segment of your community.
Students at the University of Michigan strongly stand behind your
students and we will continue to stand with them until you meet their
demands.
Sincerely,
Jackie Bray
Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality, University of Michigan
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 09:19:39 -0700
Subject: A Living Wage
Dear President Rudenstine,
Presidents do a lot to make their own place in history. You will be
remembered, no doubt, for the billions in Harvard's endowment. You will
also be remembered as a man who found injustice more attractive than taking
a blow to institutional pride and admitting that you, and the commission
you appointed, were wrong. The justice of a Living Wage for all persons
employed directly or indirectly by Harvard is so obvious, so simple, that
it is often hard to explain to someone not used to the ways of the
institution how it could be so rich, could at once pride itself on being a
liberal institution, and yet refuse to acknowledge the basic rights of
those who take care of it.
Last Thursday, I gave a lecture on issues of local and global beneficence I
at the Center for Ethics and the Professions at the Kennedy School. There
was a fine discussion afterwards -- good and challenging questions --
followed by a several course dinner for 25 or so people in the Malkin
Penthouse of the Kennedy School, with more discussion. All the good things
of a gracious and wealthy institution. When we were done for the evening,
I walked over to Massachusetts Hall where the students were sitting-in and
demonstrating for a living wage. It was hard to imagine a more graphic
picture of the two faces of Harvard.
I felt embarrassed for Harvard. You should too.
Barbara Herman, PhD 1976
Griffin Professor of Philosophy
UCLA
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 11:13:51 -0400
Subject: a living wage
Dear President Rudenstine,
I am writing to you on the issue of a living wage for your workers.
Have you recently looked into the housing market in Cambridge? I
suggest you do - it may change your mind on this topic. I, a senior
researcher at MIT, would fine it difficult to rent an apartment in
Cambridge. It is unimaginable to me how difficult this would be for
workers making less than $10/hour wages.
It is, in all honesty, quite shameful that Harvard, the "richest"
university in the country, cannot afford to pay its workers a decent
salary. I suggest you seize this opportunity to demonstrate to your
tenacious and admirable students that your university actually does
support the liberal standards it purports to. You are in a position
similar to Bill Clinton in his final days; what do you want your legacy
to be: avaricious administrator or benevolent and wise president?
Sincerely,
Allison Macfarlane
--
Allison Macfarlane
Senior Research Associate
Security Studies Program
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 10:41:17 -0400
Dear President Rudenstine,
I have been following this week's protest at Harvard in the Boston Globe
and the New York Times with interest. One of my colleagues at Harvard
tells me that your university earned several billions of dollars in
interest on its endowment last year and has been having difficulty deciding
how to spend it. In such circumstances it seems almost surreal that your
university is treating as a threat the request that a few hundred workers
should receive, at most, an extra $3 an hour to bring them up to what the
local city council has determined is the minimum livable wage in Cambridge.
And your suggestion that the workers should get free English lessons
instead would do Marie Antoinette proud. Your administration's
mean-spirited obstinacy is a sad thing to watch and, with every day that
passes, you inflict further public relations damage on an institution that
is supposed to be a beacon of humane values.
sincerely,
Hugh Gusterson
Associate Professor of Anthropology & Science Studies
Anthropology Department
MIT, 16-247
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 08:56:11 -0500
Subject: living wage sit-in
I am writing to demand that Harvard grant a living wage. I urge
you to pay all of your employees - both direct and subcontracted -- a
living wage of $10.25/hr plus benefits. Harvard University would not be
able to operate without its workers. Currently, many of these workers
live below the poverty line, and must work outrageous hours in order to
make ends meet.
This is blatantly unjust. I also urge you to honor the protesters' additional
demands for fair working condition both at home and abroad, and join the
Workers' Rights Consortium. Harvard University must do everything in its
power to uphold the Code of Conduct that it has already passed, or the efforts
and solidarity of students, workers, and the administration will have been
wasted.
It is essential that you negotiate with students who are currently taking
action on this issue. They are pursuing values cherished by Harvard and the
entire institution of higher education, thinking critically about issues of
pressing social concern and taking action on their principles.
Sincerely,
Marya R. Sosulski
Univerisity of Wisconsin-Madison
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 09:29:08 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: I support a living wage
Dear President Rudenstine,
Yesterday I handed in my PhD thesis to the registrar,
completing the last of my requirements to graduate from
the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Let
me take this opportunity to pledge that I will give no
money to Harvard until it supports a living wage.
It is a common joke among grad students to refer to ourselves
as "cheap slave labor". The Living Wage Campaign came home
to me when I realized that the wages that the Living Wage
Campaign are requesting for a full time worker correspond
to the yearly salary I make as a grad student, and that some
Harvard workers currently only make two-thirds of my "cheap
slave labor" salary. I am quite thankful for the support
I receive, but it does not seem like an extravagant amount.
I appreciate the progressive aspects of education benefits
for low-paid workers, but that cannot take the place of a
living wage. While I am also sympathetic to your frustration
with the coercive aspects of the current sit-in, it seems that
the primary gain of the sit-in has been to non-coercively raise
the awareness of the Harvard community in support of a living wage.
I encourage you to re-enter dialogue with the Harvard community
about a living wage. I have been told that you will be speaking
to the alumni association on commencement afternoon in order to
raise money for Harvard. I will be there. I hope I will be
donating, and not protesting.
Sincerely,
Stephen Bailey, GSAS 2001
Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 15:21:54 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Please support living wage campaign
Dear Administrators,
As a Harvard alum (class of '93) I am writing to encourage you to support
the demands of workers, faculty, and students for a living wage of $10.25
an hour and benefits. Harvard should set an example that allows those who
work for a living to live decent lives. Harvard workers enable the
university to achieve its goals: their lives should be comfortable.
I urge the university also to subscribe to the Workers' Rights Consortium
to protect the rights of workers overseas: allowing Harvard goods to be
mead in sweatshops violates everything the university stands for.
Sincerely,
Maya Fischhoff
Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 13:44:45 -0400
Subject: Living Wage at Harvard
Neil Rudenstine, President
Harvard University
Dear President Rudenstine:
The present standoff between the Living Wage Campaign and Harvard
University is a public relations embarrassment and moral disaster for the
University, as the op-ed piece by Tom Jehn in today's Globe clearly argues.
A day earlier in the Globe and on the other side of the struggle, we hear
your spokesperson (Joe Wrinn) saying simply and starkly, "We will not be
adopting a living wage."
You would be better off hiring Jehn as your spokesperson while at the same
time acceding to the demand that all workers at Harvard (whether
sub-contracted or not) be paid a living wage, which only means that the
lowest paid workers would be lifted closer to the poverty level as
calibrated for the Greater Boston area.
Sincerely,
Wayne O'Neil
AM (Honorary) 1965
Professor of Linguistics
MIT
Formerly Professor of Linguistics and Education at Harvard University
Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 12:55:15 -0400
Subject: Negotiating for a living wage
Dear Neil, Harvey, Polly, et al:
A dollars and cents perspective: How much do you pay the contracting job
agencies for every contracted worker you use? One dollar an hour? Two?
Three? What you are already spending on each worker is close to the living
wage--it's just not going into the workers' pockets, unfortunately.
How many man-hours did the Ad Hoc committee spend coming up with its (to
some minds, I'm sorry) rather patronizing and unimplemented solution to
worker poverty? What were the hourly salaries of the people on the
committee? So how much did this wonderful committee cost the University?
Neil, I don't know what you earn; I'll make a modest guess that it's in
the neighborhood of $300,000 a year. Harvey? Another modest guess:
$200,000. (Forgive me...this is not my world). Let's assume Polly Price,
Sally Zeckhauser, and Mr. Lewis earn in this neighborhood.
I'm going to make the grotesque assumption that unlike your contract
workers, you're up to four weeks' vacation a year, with another 2 weeks'
vacation for holidays (for which your contract workers are not paid), sick
days (ditto), and "personal days" (ditto).
Things like the Harvard sit-in disrupt the schedule, but lets's take a
normal year. Neil, if you divide that probably modest guess of $350,000,
not including perks like housing and health benedits (which your workers
don't get), by 46 weeks, you receive a weekly salary of $7608.70, an hourly
wage (based on 35 hours) of $217.40. Harvey, Polly, and the others are
similarly compensated.
Neil, there is a problem with these sums. One is that whenever the five of
you spend an hour trying to fight the Living Wage Campaign, you are costing
the University over $1,000 an hour. Throw in a handful of high-powered
lawyers (probably min. $500/hour), various secretaries and support staff,
the catered lunch, xeroxing, etc, and $5000 an hour goes right out the
window.
And the hours are mounting up.
And all this time you could've just looked at each other and said: "Hey,
what the heck! Let's pay the people who make our work possible a living
wage."
Add up the contracting overhead. Add up the high-salaried hours spent
dealing with this issue (do you really see it going away?).
Neil, Sally, Harvey...you're hurting the bottom line here. Forget what's
right: save yourselves some money and some headaches. Grant all workers the
living wage.
Andree Pages '77
Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 10:09:27 -0400
Subject: Embarassing
Dear Administrators,
It was with great shame that I listened to WBUR's coverage of the Living
Wage campaign this morning. I fully support all of the students, faculty,
staff and your fellow administrators who are demanding that Harvard
University pay all of its employees - direct and subcontracted - a living
wage. Now that the national and Massachusetts Democratic parties, along
with the Cambridge City Council, have joined in asking for a living wage, I
sincerely hope you will begin to listen. The fact that you have repeatedly
refused an open dialogue undermines the very intellectual values which
Harvard University claims to teach at $35,400 (often more) per student!
Honor the contributions of those workers who don't have much, but give
much.
Mark 12:41-44
"And he sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the multitude putting
money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor
widow came, and put in two copper coins, which make a penny. And he called
his disciples to him, and said to them, "Truly, I say to you, this poor
widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury.
For they all contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty
has put in everything she had, her whole living.""
Respectfully submitted,
Tim Freiermuth
Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 13:23:18
Subject: Living Wage
Dear Mr. Fineberg and President Rudenstine,
I am writing to express my support for the implementation of a living wage
on Harvard's campus.
I believe Harvard's actions vis a vis a living wage has implications far
beyond Harvard, which is why as a recent alum I have taken the time to
express my dismay at the current situation on campus.
Harvard University is at the vanguard of academia, and a bellweather by
which other universities measure themselves. Through the implementation of
a living wage on campus, you are not only proving that Harvard understands
the need for a community of workers who are paid enough to live in dignity,
above the poverty level, but you also will be affecting thousands of other
campuses who follow the trends that Harvard sets.
I urge you to follow the Cambridge City Council's lead in implementing a
$10.25 per hour living wage policy. No matter what metrics you use to
justify a substandard wage, Harvard has the ability to pay the higher wages
and should consider the wellbeing of all members of its community, and
beyond.
Sincerely,
Rachel Greenblatt
Class of '98
Sent: 4/23/01 11:37 PM
Subject: Do the Right Thing Harvard!
Dear President Rudenstine, Provost Fineberg, Vice-President Zeckhauser,
and Ms. Price;
I once worried that Harvard counted on the natural turnover of its
student populations to make student demands easy to ignore.
The 40 students who have been in Massachusetts Hall for almost a week,
and the enormous and overwhelming support they've achieved in that time
has convinced me that while students leave, the issue - in this case the
absurd refusal of the world's second wealthiest non-profit organization
to pay a living wage to its employees - remains.
With the endowment up to $20 billion, there is no conceivable excuse for
not paying a living wage to all employees -whether unionized or not,
whether temporary or permanent. I have yet to see a statement from
Harvard even attempting to justify this equation. Of all places,
Harvard has the unique privilege and opportunity to resist the demands
of the dollar that force many universities to sacrifice academic for
economic concerns. It demeans the institution and certainly demeaned me
as a student of Harvard that so many members of the Harvard community -
the people who keep the physical facilities running - are not uplifted
by their relationship with Harvard, as so many thousands of students
are.
Come on Harvard - do the right thing. You can afford it; with the
levels of outrage throughout the Harvard community, Cambridge, your
alumnae base, public intellectuals, and the country, you can no longer
afford not to.
I will look forward to your response -- not the statement issued last
week. I'd actually prefer you respond to this letter by negotiating
with PSLM, but an explanation of your refusal to do so, and to grant a
living wage, would also be appreciated.
Sincerely,
Liz Vladeck, Harvard and PSLM '99
Lawyers Committee for Human Rights
New York, NY
Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 23:48:56 -0700
Subject: living wage
Harvey Fineberg, MD, Ph.D.
Provost
Harvard University
Dear Dr. Fineberg:
I am writing to express my concerns about the current student/labor actions
in support of raising wages for Harvard's lowest paid workers. As an
alumnus of the School of Public Health during your tenure as Dean, I am
aware of your longstanding personal and professional committment to improve
the lives of society's poorest and most disadvantaged members. Like many
other HSPH graduates, I have tried to incorporate this committment into my
own work in primary care and disease prevention. It is in this context that
I appeal to you to use your position within the University to support the
current living wage campaign. While the current student acts of nonviolent
civil disobience are perhaps disruptive to the daily life of the University,
the goals of the campaign are just; Harvard's lowest paid workers do not
currently enjoy a "living wage", and are forced to live in poverty while
serving one of the wealthiest private institutions of the world. Harvard
has the ability to teach by example, and should take this opportunity to
demonstrate that there is dignity in work, that private institutions have a
direct responsibility to fight poverty, and that Harvard has a unique role
in supporting national efforts to extend the benefits of a productive
economy to the workers that produce that wealth.
In 1990, McCord and Freeman wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine
about excess mortality in Harlem, and decried the nation's enormous health
disparities. In a subsequent letter in NEJM, I wrote that the response to
this national tragedy "must include both public health interventions and
efforts to eliminate ... poverty in the midst of plenty." Harvard's support
for the living wage campaign would be an important effort in this noble
cause.
Sincerely,
Jon Liebman, MSN, MS
HSPH 1987
Date: 23 Apr 2001 18:32:35 MDT
Subject: Letter to President Rudenstine
April 23, 2001-Cleveland, Ohio
TO: Neil Rudenstine, President, Harvard University
email: beverly_sullivan@harvard.edu
Dear President Rudenstine,
I urge you to negotiate in good faith with the Harvard workers and students to
ensure a living wage for all associated with your great institution.
Given the costs for housing and other expenses in your area, a living wage of
$10.25/hr plus benefits, for all of your employees - both direct and
subcontracted - seems reasonable. I understand that currently many of these
workers live below the poverty line.
I thank you for passing a Code of Conduct. In order to uphold this Code, I
respectfully request that you honor the protesters' additional demands for
fair working condition both at home and abroad, and join the Workers' Rights
Consortium.
Harvard University has achieved an international reputation for your high
standards of educational and institutional excellence. I hope that you
recognize the critical role of your students and workers for the prestige and
quality of your institution. Their demands seem reasonable. Please listen to
them, treat them with respect and work honestly towards a fair and dignified
resolution of their concerns.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Todd Packer
Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2001 17:14:56 -0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
Subject: A living wage for all Harvard workers
Dear President Rudenstine,
I am writing to urge you and your administrators to negotiate directly
with the protesters at Mass Hall.
The Harvard students currently occupying Mass Hall are absolutely right
when they say that the set of alternative measures to the living wage that
you announced last year are shamefully inadequate to address to problem of
poverty wages at this university. Simple decency demands that all Harvard
workers, whether directly employed or hired through outside firms, be paid
a living wage. Subcontracting and reclassification are no excuse to cut
the wages and benefits of the people who serve the wealthiest university
in the wealthiest nation on earth.
It is time for Harvard to lived up to its responsibilities and its
rhetoric. I, along with thousands of other Harvard staff, faculty,
students, and alumni, urge you to negotiate in good faith, and to
negotiate now.
Respectfully,
Kathleen M. Gillespie
Staff Assistant
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2001 16:27:24 -0400
Subject: Living Wage at Harvard
Dear Harvard Administrators,
I am a professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst
who has been studying living wage campaigns for the past
five years. I am convinced that the benefits of living
wage policies for cities and universitites far outweigh
the costs.
Study after study shows that living wage ordinances result
in a substantial improvement in the standard of living
for workers, while resulting in negligible relative costs
for the employers.
I have attached an op-ed I recently wrote for the
Sonoma County Press Democrat, in case you would like
more information on this research.
I urge you to adopt the proposal put forward
by the Harvard Living Wage Coalition.
Sincerely,
Stephanie Luce
Assistant Professor
University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Living Wages: Examining the Evidence
By Stephanie Luce
When people discuss proposals like the living wage ordinance
that Sonoma County governments are being asked to consider over
the next few months, it is tempting to resort to theoretical
arguments. Those who oppose the ordinance can argue that economic
theory predicts that when we raise wages, workers will be laid off.
Those who support the the proposal can argue that economic theory
also predicts that raised wages will improve worker commitment,
reduce turnover and absenteeism, and increase productivity.
Fortunately, in the case of living wage ordinances, we need not
rely on competing puzzling theories. Instead, we can turn to a
growing body of empirical research that demonstrates the effect
that actual living wage proposals have had on the more than forty
communities that have passed them.
In Baltimore, two different studies by two separate research teams,
one led by faculty at Johns Hopkins University and the other by
researchers at the independent Preamble Center for Policy Research,
had similar findings. First, average contract costs to the city have
declined slightly relative to inflation since the ordinance has passed.
Second, there has not been a significant reduction in the number of
firms bidding on city contracts. Third, employment of less-skilled
workers did not decline after passage of the living wage law, according
to interviews with workers. Fourth, business investment in the city of
Baltimore continued to grow following the law's enactment. Fifth,
although only a modest number of workers were affected by the
ordinance, those interviewed reported real gains to both their
incomes and their dignity as a result of the ordinance. Finally,
employers who were interviewed reported improvements in employee
morale and productivity and reductions in employee turnover.
In Los Angeles, a city-commissioned study led by researchers at
UCLA had similar general findings. Of 30 firms examined in a case
study, in slightly more than half (56%), neither costs to the city
nor employment levels changed substantially following passage of
the ordinance. In less than a third (27%), some costs were passed
on to the city. In less than a fifth (17%), some workers were laid
off or assigned to other jobs. The overall employment shifts and
declines were about 3%. The researchers stressed the importance
of competitive bidding in avoiding job loss or increased costs to
the city. Cases where workers were reassigned or costs were passed
on to the city were generally not subject to competitive bidding.
Finally, as in Baltimore, employers reported that the ordinance
improved the efficiency of their workers.
In San Jose, a brief report by city staff six months after passage
found similarly benign or positive effects. The report says "no small
businesses have been adversely affected by the Policy's requirements."
In terms of contract bids, the report argues "there is no evidence that
contractors are unwilling to bid due to the new requirements." The
report also looked at workers on contracts affected by the ordinance
and found that 51% of workers on affected contracts received wage
increases due to the ordinance and that 61% of those workers were
San Jose city residents.
In short, in all these empirical studies of living wage ordinances
that have passed, the predictions of opponents have not been borne
out. Instead, living wages appear to bring about real gains for a
modest number of low-paid workers, without hurting businesses or the
city. And in many cases, employers too have gained, with more committed,
better trained workers. In Sonoma County, a growing proportion of
workers earn poverty level wages. This year, the Sonoma County City
Councils have the chance to reverse that trend for a small number
of workers. The competing theories are complicated. But the facts
are simple. Living wages work for workers, for businesses and for
cities.
Stephanie Luce, Assistant Professor of Labor Studies at the
University of Massachusetts - Amherst, is the co-author of The
Living Wage: Building a Fair Economy.
Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2001 05:44:04 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Please meet with living wage students (from Virginia Tech)
Dear President Neil Rudenstine and Harvard
Administration,
We here at Virginia Tech look forward to you doing the
right thing and meeting with your hardworking and
intelligent students to help make Harvard a better
place for its employees and the entire community.
Please take time to think about this issue and make
sure that you stand on the right side. Stand strong
with your employees and champion a better higher
education community not only for Harvard, but for the
country. Lead the way for schools across the country,
to become places of decency and moral justice. On the
other hand, the time to lead is a brief one. If you do
not take the lead now, other schools will and the time
of Harvard being the hallmark for the country may be
shown to be past. So please meet with your students
today, so that all of us can help work for a better
tomorrow (corny but true).
Sincerely,
Chris Gale
Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2001 08:35:02 -0400
Dear President Rudenstine:
Harvard's unwillingness to pay the Living Wage in light of its substantial
wealth and regular budget surpluses is unseemly. The use of a contract work
force by an employer with stable labor needs also seems designed to skirt
responsibility. Harvard is not a business that needs to downsize or upsize
every quarter according to market demand for its products. Harvard has a
certain number of buildings that need to be cleaned and guarded; a certain
number of people who need to be fed in its cafeterias.
A university is a community. To teach and to learn and to steer,
professors and students and administrators need maintained buildings,
cafeterias, and a level of security. Why is it not clear that just as the
fund-raising you do and student tuition pays their salaries, the work they
do makes your work possible?
In the modern bottom-line-driven world, low-wage workers have little
political voice, which is why students with a higher profile and guaranteed
[I hope] food and shelter are raising the issue.
Consider what the impact of a Living Wage would be on the morale and
reputation of the University, as well as on the single mother who must feed
and clothe her children. Focusing on the visible knot of students is a
distraction from the crowd of workers whose daily lives depend on your
answer, and on the rest of the Harvard students, professors, and alumni
whose pride in their community rests with you.
Respectfully,
Andree Pages '77
New York City
Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2001 11:59:06 -0400
Subject: A living wage
Dear President Rudenstine, Provost Fineberg, Vice President Zeckhauser,
Dean Lewis, and Associate Vice President Price,
This message is from a former machinist who became a Harvard alum and has
been a university professor for thirty-seven years.
Have you any idea what it's like to live on an income below the official
poverty level -- to live on the wages that are paid to hundreds of workers
who are employed (directly or indirectly) by Harvard?
Is it for Harvard a matter of principle to pay as little to its workers as
the market will bear? Is Harvard's idea "Each corporation for itself and
the devil take the hindmost"? That's what it seems.
An institution tells us what it stands for by its actions. Harvard is
disgracing itself by its rejection of the living wage.
You cannot win this one. So I urge you to change direction -- sooner
rather than later -- and share the tiny fraction of Harvard's enormous
resources that it will take to pay the living wage. Make us once again
proud, rather than ashamed, to be associated with Harvard University.
Sincerely,
David Lyons
PhD & MA 1963
Knox Traveling Fellow 1963-4
Susan Linn Sage Professor of Philosophy emeritus and Professor of Law
emeritus, Cornell University
Professor of Law and of Philosophy, Boston University
Lyons - 4 Carolina Place - Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 - (617) 524-2305
Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2001 10:34:47 -0400
Subject: Dean Murphy: Support the Living Wage Campaign
Dear Dean Murphy,
I write to you as a HGSE student, urging you to speak with the Harvard
Presidents and other Deans and Provosts about paying all Harvard employees at
least $10.25, in accordance with the Living Wage campaign.
I have shown a Living Wage petition to more than 200 HGSE students just in the
past two weeks and every student and professor with whom I've spoken has
signed the petition. In addition, I have met with the HGSE student government
about the Living Wage campaign and they have given their official endorsement.
It is clear that an employer of such means as Harvard University is commiting
a moral scandal by not paying its workers a livable wage. Now you are no small
fundraiser yourself. Please think about your responsibility to our community
and do the moral minimum of pushing for a wage that employees can live on,
whether they have been "outsourced," such as the HGSE security guards, or not.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter,
Matthew Knoester
EDMI student
Dear Harvey:
> >I hope you are doing well. I just heard there is a protest going on re:
> >employees earning a livable wage. As both an alum and former employee, I
> >support this action. Please consider instituting a livable wage policy at
> >the world's richest university. I know of many former students who
>support
> >this action. With a bit more effort, probably many more alums would
> >reconsider donating funds to Harvard's endownment fund until this issue
>is
> >dealt with fairly and sensibly.
> >
> >Thanks for listening.
> >
> >Dolita Cathcart '81
> >Instructor of History
> >Wheaton College
> >Norton MA
> >508.286.3652
>Dear Adminstrators,
>
>I am writing to urge you to negotiate with the protesters currently
>occupying Mass Hall. I am entirely in support of the demands and the
>tactics of the living wage campaign. As a resident advisor and teaching
>fellow, I have often worked hard to enforce and promote Harvard policy.
>This loyalty stems out of a belief that Harvard's policies are in place to
>protect its undergrads, to further their education and growth and to
>generally promote a healthy and just community. However, Harvard's
>refusal to treat a significant segment of its community in a just manner
>undermines the very values that I, and many others, work to promote.
>
>A number of my family members work as cooks and cleaners at Middlebury
>College. They are no less important, long-standing or loyal members of the
>Middlebury College community than any professor, graduate student or
>undergraduate. When a segment of a community is treated unjustly every
>member of that community is responsible and implicated. Harvard has the
>largest endowment of any university; it is morally corrupt for it to seek
>to save money at the expense of its most vulnerable and powerless members.
>
>I am the resident tutor, teaching fellow, and advisor for a number of
>students involved in this protest and campaign. I expect them to be
>treated fairly and gently. If Harvard chooses to arrest them or ad-board
>them, I will take this very seriously. A large segment of my department,
>from graduate students to senior faculty, are becoming increasingly
>disturbed and concerned about Harvard's policy and its response to the
>activists. I certainly hold you responsible for their safety throughout
>this occupation and in its aftermath.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Amanda S. Green
>G3 Philosophy
Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2001 22:06:05 -0400
Subject: Please focus on the worthiness of the goals
Dear President Rudenstine:
You can be proud that Harvard admitted such a fine group of young men and
women, people who care about the lives of others less fortunate than they,
people who recognize the responsibility that the comforable and educated
have in ensuring those less well-endowed have a shot at a life of dignity,
being paid a living wage for their labor. Maybe the children of these
workers will be proud of where their parents worked, and maybe they too will
apply to Harvard someday. An institution's reputation rests on many things;
the caliber of Harvard's students is shining through loud and clear,
although inconveniently perhaps, this weekend.
Be proud of them--let them lead your generation. Negotiate with them in
good faith, and never lose sight of the fact that this is NOT about losing
face, but a simple bread-and-butter economic issue that it is time to face.
Thanking you in advance for your work in good faith,
Andree Pages '77
Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2001 16:55:46 EDT
Subject: Angels or Beasts
Dear Mr. Rudenstine,
The country and the world gets a strong impression that allthough your
name is still listed and your body is still at Havard (expiration date is July
1st), your mind is allready elsewhere. Otherwise, why would the president of
the world's most avangaurd thinking tank vacate his office for rather
hypocritical reasons - not to face the fruits of the teachings that he had been
implementing himself as a president: to altruisticly pursue justice, truth, and
social compassion.
Aren't you aware that your students are demanding nothing other than that?
If you feel like no longer being a president, than at least call upon the
teacher in you and the citizen in you. Do you hear anything? If not, call upon
the Man. And be careful in telling yourself that you hear no response, because
that would mean that you are dead.
In this case, don't you care, after all, whether your necrology is writtten by
angels or beasts?
Justin Angel & Vladimir Beast
>Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2001 15:50:10 EDT
>
>This is a request to ask you to negotiate with the students who are
>sitting
>in about a "living wage"-namely $10.25 per hour for ALL HARVARD WORKERS. We
>would hope the Harvard would show the way for the nation that a living wage
>is the absolute bottom line for a democratic society that hopes for
>stability
>and peace.
>
>Margery & Fred Cohen
Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2001 15:04:52 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Support a Living Wage and Join the WRC
I am writing in response to a call of solidarity put out by the United
Students Against Sweatshop affliate at Harvard who is the group currently
sitting in at Massuchusetts Hall. These students, faculty, and concerned
citizens are calling on Harvard to act in a socially responsible manner.
I urge you to, at the very least, negotiate with these protesters and, at
the most, agree to meet their demands.
The demands of the Living Wage Campaign: to join the WRC and pay a living
wage of $10.25 to workers are not radically unnecessary requests. These
demands are instead a call for Harvard, as an institution, to commit to
thinking and acting locally. Workers deserve to be payed a sustainable
wage for their lively hood. Hold yourself accountable.
And joining the Workers Rights Consortium should go without saying.
There are sweatshop abuses. There are people suffering. The WRC has
proven effective, Kukdong being the most recent example. I am surprised
Harvard isn't already a member of this amazing organization. Support an
end to sweatshop abuses abroad - join the WRC.
much love,
maureen capillo
saint mary's college
when i fed the poor they called my a saint.
when i asked why they were poor, they called me a communist.
~ archbishop hedler chamoa
Dear President Rudenstine,
We are writing to express our support for the students occupying
Massachusetts Hall and for a living wage for all Harvard workers. We
urge you to negotiate with the students, who are acting in the spirit of
a long tradition of conscience and activism at Harvard. We hope and
trust that the university will take this opportunity to change course and
agree to implement a living wage policy for all Harvard workers.
Yours sincerely,
Yael Simpson Fletcher, '78
Ian Christopher Fletcher, '79
Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2001 18:42:28 -0000
Subject: living wage campaign
Dear Ms. Price,
As an H-R alumna o 1970, I urge you to support the student/staff campaign
for a living wage for all Harvard employees, in line with the example set
by the Cambridge City Council of $10.25 per hour with benefits.
My own "Harvard" generation was marked by active involvement in social
justice and peace issues. I am relieved to find that the current
generation is also so inclined. Harvard must be doing something right by
its students after all. I am proud of them.
I will consider "giving" to H-R for the first time ever if this campaign
is successful.
Sincerely,
Linda M. Marsella
H-R '70
April 20, 2001
Mr. Harvey Fineberg, Provost
Harvard University
(by e-mail)
Dear Mr. Fineberg,
Imagine what John Harvard would think if he walked the grounds of the
University today. He'd find a beautiful campus staffed by a prestigious
faculty. He'd meet interested students from all parts of the world eager to
learn and contribute to the betterment of our kind. He'd discover an
institution with an outstanding reputation, among the wealthiest schools in
the nation, unwilling to pay a living wage to many of its employees. I
suspect this dichotomy would puzzle him. As a Christian minister, the second
part of the greatest commandment, to love your neighbor as yourself, would
have been an admonishment he took seriously. To see the present day
University so blatantly disrespect it would, I'm sure, deeply disappoint him.
The Cambridge City Council has called for a living wage of $10.25 an hour.
That's a paltry sum by any measure. You can't support a family on it, but
it's a start and I urge you to support it. This is an opportunity for
Harvard to set an example in establishing fair employment practices.
Sincerely,
James Rebhorn
Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2001 12:49:40 -0400
Subject: Peaceful Negotiations Are In Order
Dear Neil, Harvey, Polly, et al:
Students who have thought long and hard about the inequity around them
are trying to make a meaningful difference. You know they are not a flash
in the pan. You also know they will not go away. There may be a few rabble
rousers in the bunch, but for the most part these are serious young people
demonstrated well thought-out convictions, and their ideas are hardly
radical.
Please seek out the thoughts of many different people before you harden
yourselves against the possibility of negotiating. There are many avenues
to successful compromise. You represent a community, and the community is
speaking. While many decry what the students are doing, how many have
actually decried what they are asking for?
Thank you for your consideration.
Nanook Pages
Parent and Alumna
This guy is also helping organize support at Tufts.
********************************************************************
Subject: living wage
Pres. Rudenstine and Harvard administrators,
As an academic and a Cambridge resident I am quite alarmed by a state of
affairs that leaves many of your workers with inadequate wages. Two
years ago the Cambridge City Council voted to make $10/hr a minimum wage
for city workers - a sum necessary to maintain a reasonable standard of
living in Cambridge. That workers for the country's richest and most
prestigious university have to scrape by on substandard wages is
unconscionable.
Many of your students, faculty members and staff have joined in protests
and demonstrations to urge you to listen to reason and to respond
to the needs of your workers. Listen to them! They are voices of
compassion and ethical responsibility.
Sincerely yours,
Gary Goldstein
******************************************
Prof. Gary R. Goldstein
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Tufts University
Medford, MA 02155
Dear President Rudenstine,
Every Thursday I teach two sections of Shakespearean Tragedy in Barker
#114. I don't know if you are familiar with this room, but teaching there
provides a rather bizarre study in contrasts. My students and I sit around
a gorgeous handmade $80,000 table, placed on what must be a similarly-
priced rug. In the process of discussing our readings, I espouse to them
the value of a liberal arts education: studying these 400 year-old plays,
I explain to my skeptical audience, can make you more critical thinkers,
more ethical world citizens, more capacious and generous in your tastes
and values, less provincial, more humane. But outside the full glass walls
and doors of our seminar room, janitors who live below the poverty level
quietly haul our trash and mop our floors.
Frankly, you and I both know that it is shameful that the wealthiest
university in the world refuses to pay all of its workers a living wage.
There is simply no moral defense for refusing to pay both direct and
subcontracted employees enough to live above the poverty line.
I recognize that it would feel awkward to you to respond to student
demands under this kind of pressure. But this is a community that has
always operated with mutual respect and dialog; and as you well know, this
kind of sit-in tactic has been avoided for decades now. The only unwelcome
precedent to be concerned about here is positioning yourself on the wrong
side of so clear-cut a moral issue. My sense of the mood among graduate
and undergraduate students is that you will earn only respect and
cooperation by negotiating with those taking action on this issue, and by
immediately agreeing to pay all employees at least $10.25/hour. There is
no shame in correcting policy to better actualize the values that Harvard
claims to cherish.
Veritas,
Wendy Hyman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wendy Hyman Barker Center
Harvard University 12 Quincy Street
Department of English Cambridge, MA 02138
Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 20:01:57 -0400
Subject: You probably know
Dear Neil:
Sometimes we find ourselves in a position which we suddenly realize is
shameful. Sometimes that makes us fight all the harder to justify it.
Please understand that what is most important, always, is to look inside.
You may see the students as a bunch of punks, but I think they are capable
of seeing you administrators as misguided, not evil, people. Harvard can
take a collective breath and move into the future as a community that cares
about all its members. Trust me--the improved wages will pay off in
increased productivity and pride.
This is an issue that has the potential to split the community in two.
Think of South Africa. Think of the Labor Movement in this country in the
early part of the century. The minimum wage has not kept up with inflation.
These people need to pay heating bills, to take their children to the
doctor, to buy eyeglasses.
You guys did great with the bottom line. Maybe now it's time to think of
other issues. Neil--here is a place where you could really grow, and leave
a legacy that all would be greatful for. You have had your dark nights of
the soul. Let this be a great gift to the human beings who work here--a
gift that they have more than earned.
On some deep level, maybe you are proud that these students cared more
for their fellow man than their own comfortability. These are serious
people; please treat their requests seriously.
Andree Pages '77
Date: Wednesday, April 18, 2001 2:37 PM
Subject: Tufts students support sit-in
Harvard Administrators,
We, the student coalition for social justice and non-violence at Tufts
University fully support the sit-in taking place in your administration
building right now and their issue. We ask that you please listen to the
concerns that Harvard students are expressing and try to reach some sort of
agreement. We ask that you please do not physically or pycologically harm
the students as they only mean well.
We, the students of Tufts University in solidarity with our fellow
students at Harvard University will be fully supportive of them and will be
in dialogue with them and other students at Harvard, Tufts, and other
Boston-area schools to help you in reaching a conclusion that will satiate
all parties involved.
Thank you for your understanding in this matter.
Peace,
Louis Esparza, Tufts University, LA'03
The Tufts University Coalition for Social Justice and Non-violence
Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 14:36:07 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Please give all Harvard Employees a wage they can live on
To Whom it May Concern,
Please begin negotiations with the students and
community members engaged in the sit-in for a living
wage for Harvard employees. Even the suggested minimum
of $10.25 per hour is not enough, in my opinion.
Harvard is one of the richest schools in the country,
with one of the most impressive endowments of any
private University. How shameful it is (yet, I
suppose, to be expected given the increasing gap
between the "elites" and the rest of the world) that
such an illustrious and wealthy school would refuse to
adequately compensate the people who operate Harvard
on the most fundamental levels.
Human beings are not resources. They should not be
considered expendable or disposable. Rates of pay
should not be decided in a race to the bottom, where
those who are willing to work for the least get the
jobs. People should not be forced to beg for the
privilege to serve modern corporate feudal lords and
then still not be able to pay their bills at the end
of the month.
Alternative Media is alive and strong. This protest
may or may not make it onto the evening news, but rest
assured that your actions are being watched.
Please consider a living wage. It's the right thing to
do.
Sincerely,
Aaron Harmon
Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 16:57:57 -0400
Subject: living wage/annual contrib