(U-WIRE) CAMBRIDGE, Mass.-The continuing occupation of Massachusetts Hall by the Progressive Student Labor Movement (PSLM) marks an unprecedented escalation for the living wage campaign, which for the past two years has been characterized by an array of generally light-hearted actions and cooperation with the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD).
PSLM members, who began the semester delivering cookies and Valentine’s Day cards to administrators, say the sit-in is an unfortunate, but necessary, step in their two-year campaign for a living wage of $10.25 per hour for all Harvard employees. The student activists, who risk disciplinary action with the continuing sit-in, say they have been left no alternative.
In response to PSLM’s actions, a high-ranking committee of faculty members and administrators released a 100-page report last spring recommending that the University enlarge the scope of worker benefits, including health insurance, education and access to campus facilities.
PSLM members unilaterally rejected the recommendations and vowed to fight for a living wage. But the student activists say that since the release of the report, they have essentially been stonewalled by the administration, and have been forced to redefine their campaign strategy.
“Since the committee released its recommendations-rejecting the implementation of any wage standard whatsoever for Harvard workers-administrators have told us that the issue is closed,” the press release read.
“We’ve tried a whole variety of tactics, from teach-ins to rallies to meetings with administrators,” PSLM member Amy C. Offner ’01 said outside Mass. Hall yesterday.
But since the release of the report, the administration has not budged.
In a press packet distributed outside Mass. Hall yesterday, the students said they have exhausted all traditional avenues to enact change.
“We wish we didn’t have to do this, but we have to because the university has resisted all the attempts at dialogue we’ve had in the past,” Offner said.
It’s not clear that the sit-in will have any effect on winning a living wage.
A statement released yesterday afternoon by the Harvard University News Office said last spring’s recommendations would be the extent of the administration’s actions.
“In light of the recent comprehensive review, the university does not intend to reopen the question of a mandatory wage floor, but is actively implementing the affirmative recommendations of the committee,” the press release read.
The 50 students who have sworn to remain in Mass. Hall indefinitely and the administrators who quietly left their offices have reached a standstill, with no visible end in sight.
The student activists say they are willing to face disciplinary action for their continuing occupation of the building.
“All of us who have entered Massachusetts Hall have done so with our eyes open, and are prepared for any repercussions that we may face,” the press release read. “We do not think that punishment is justified, however, because we do not believe that what we are doing is criminal.”
When asked whether students would face arrest, HUPD Chief Francis D. “Bud” Riley said he did not plan to arrest students, because he “knew three-quarters of them by name.”
Ultimately, however, it is a question of whether the unprecedented action will prove successful.
Paul S. Grogan, vice president of government and community affairs, said the escalation in tactic is unnecessary. He said the student activists are unreasonably fixated on the concept of a living wage as the only way to benefit Harvard workers.
“The living wage is a great symbol,” he said. “But there are so few workers who are actually below the standard.
About 400 out of more than 13,000 Harvard employees are paid less than $10 an hour, according to a press release from the Harvard News Office yesterday afternoon.
Grogan said that the recommendations of the committee last spring, which were the result of 13 months of research, would be more beneficial in the long term than a salary increase to $10.25 per hour.
“The committee felt its recommendations would be far more powerful than the students’ proposal,” Grogan said yesterday. “They expressly rejected the students’ suggestion. They had a number of opportunities to argue and the committee said, ‘This isn’t a good idea.'”
Standing outside Mass. Hall last night, Offner said that the student activists both inside and outside the administrative building would not move until their demands are met.
“We see this as a major, justified escalation,” Offner said, gesturing to the 50 students planning to spend the night on the floor of the administrative building. “We’d like this to be the end, but even if it’s not, we’ll continue the struggle.”
Grogan said that it is simply unrealistic for the students to expect any movement in the direction of a living wage: it is not that the administration does not want to improve the welfare of workers at Harvard but they have decided that a living wage is simply not the best way to go about it.
The student activists who slept in Mass. Hall last night say that the recommendations are meaningless concessions and they will not budge.
“We are sitting in because poverty on our campus is brutal and cannot wait any longer for remedy,” yesterday’s press release read.