Harvard Faculty Sign Living Wage Petition

Over 90 Harvard faculty members stepped up to the plate in the fight for a Harvard living wage on Friday in an open letter to President Neil L. Rudenstine and Provost Harvey V. Fineberg '67.

Students and faculty involved in the Harvard Living Wage Campaign, which organized the letter, said this latest effort may give the campaign the kind of legitimacy and appeal that would make the University respond.

The campaign is calling for Harvard to pay all its employees a living wage--$10 an hour as defined by the city of Cambridge.

"At times the administration has labeled [the campaign] as just a student movement. It's more of a broadbased community movement," said Greg Halpern '99, a campaign member.

Associate Professor of Government and Social Studies Pratap B. Mehta said it was important for faculty to support students' legitimate concerns.

"It just struck me that if the students are taking up what seems like reasonable goals the faculty can lend their voice," Mehta said.

The administration has not yet responded to the letter, but the campaign will be having a rally tomorrow where Richard J. Parker, a lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government, will speak on behalf of fellow faculty supporters.

Lecturer in Social Studies Alan J. Keenan said he had high expectations for the administration's response to the letter.

"I would hope that they would take the opinions of the signers of the petition and the opinions of those pressing them for this policy seriously and act on it positively," he said.

The campaign originally contacted faculty members through events or by approaching them after classes.

For instance, DuBois Professor of the Humanities Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. Signed the petition at the March 9 "Rally for Justice" organized by the campaign, the Progressive Student Labor Movement and the Coalition Against Sexual Violence.

"When he walked [into University Hall], he signed the petition, and everyone cheered," Halpern said.

After 15 signatures were initially collected, students sent out a five-page mailing to faculty members that included a two-page fact sheet and a copy of the signed letter.

Campaign members also approached their professors after class.

"I think I must have had at least eight to nine different students come and talk to me," Mehta said.

Assistant Professor of English and American Literature and Language Ann Pelligrini '86 said she was contacted viae-mail.

Overall, the campaign estimates that it hascontacted over 300 faculty members, but memberssaid they have yet to contact much of the Facultyof Arts and Sciences. Members hope to obtain150-200 more signatures.

"There's a huge portion of the faculty which wehave yet to contact," Halpern said. "The mailinghas gone out to a fraction of the FAS Faculty. Weintend to contact all of the graduate schools."

Members of the campaign said they hope the coregroup of faculty members who have already signedthe petition will encourage other faculty membersto follow suit. The also hope that students willbe encouraged by their professors support of thecampaign to join in.

This tactic may already be working, accordingto Keenan.

"I've talked to some other faculty members insocial studies... and I've encouraged them to signit," he said.

Meanwhile, campaign members say that Universityofficials are already discussing the possibilityof instituting a living wage at Harvard though afaculty task force to examine Harvard's currentemployment practices.

The committee, which has met twice thissemester, is chaired by D. Quinn Mills,Weatherhead professor of business administration,and includes professors of economics, health carepolicy and law, in addition to administrators suchas Sally H. Zeckhauser, vice president foradministration, and Kim A. Roberts '70, directorof labor and employee relations.

"The proverbial purse strings of Harvard lay inher hands," Halpern said, referring to Zeckhauser.

But faculty supporters said change will likelycome slowly.

"Institutional change is always slower thanhoped," Pellegrini said. "My expectation is thatthis will be a very slow process."

But if the University does institute a livingwage, professors and students alike said theybelieve that it would set an example for the restof the country.

"If we could persuade Harvard to follow thatmoral guideline that might have some influence onthe larger society," Keenan said.

In addition to tomorrow's rally in front of theScience Center, the campaign is also planning acommencement event to draw attention to the livingwage issue.

Detailed plans have not yet been made, butHalpern said that it would try to increaseparents' awareness of the issue.

At the same time, Halpern hastened to add thatthe proposed event was not meant to be a threat tothe administration.

"We don't want to be known as the group thatruined commencement," Halpern said

Overall, the campaign estimates that it hascontacted over 300 faculty members, but memberssaid they have yet to contact much of the Facultyof Arts and Sciences. Members hope to obtain150-200 more signatures.

"There's a huge portion of the faculty which wehave yet to contact," Halpern said. "The mailinghas gone out to a fraction of the FAS Faculty. Weintend to contact all of the graduate schools."

Members of the campaign said they hope the coregroup of faculty members who have already signedthe petition will encourage other faculty membersto follow suit. The also hope that students willbe encouraged by their professors support of thecampaign to join in.

This tactic may already be working, accordingto Keenan.

"I've talked to some other faculty members insocial studies... and I've encouraged them to signit," he said.

Meanwhile, campaign members say that Universityofficials are already discussing the possibilityof instituting a living wage at Harvard though afaculty task force to examine Harvard's currentemployment practices.

The committee, which has met twice thissemester, is chaired by D. Quinn Mills,Weatherhead professor of business administration,and includes professors of economics, health carepolicy and law, in addition to administrators suchas Sally H. Zeckhauser, vice president foradministration, and Kim A. Roberts '70, directorof labor and employee relations.

"The proverbial purse strings of Harvard lay inher hands," Halpern said, referring to Zeckhauser.

But faculty supporters said change will likelycome slowly.

"Institutional change is always slower thanhoped," Pellegrini said. "My expectation is thatthis will be a very slow process."

But if the University does institute a livingwage, professors and students alike said theybelieve that it would set an example for the restof the country.

"If we could persuade Harvard to follow thatmoral guideline that might have some influence onthe larger society," Keenan said.

In addition to tomorrow's rally in front of theScience Center, the campaign is also planning acommencement event to draw attention to the livingwage issue.

Detailed plans have not yet been made, butHalpern said that it would try to increaseparents' awareness of the issue.

At the same time, Halpern hastened to add thatthe proposed event was not meant to be a threat tothe administration.

"We don't want to be known as the group thatruined commencement," Halpern said