After Rally, Activism Down But Not Out

For one frigid day last March, the campus seemed more radical Berkeley than the indifferent Yard.

The administration made some concessions and promises to student protesters last semester, but the demands for a living wage for all Harvard employees, rape support services and an end to sweatshop labor will likely continue into the fall and winter.

In an unusual marriage of causes, the Students Against Sweatshops (SAS), the Living Wage Campaign and the Coalition Against Sexual Violence (CASV) joined forces March 9 for a catch-all "Justice for Harvard" rally.

Filling the Yard with flyers and surrounding University Hall with chants of protest, about 350 students participated in the three-hour demonstration.

But another protest of that magnitude seems unlikely anytime soon. After last year's event, CASV members said they planned on reaching their goals--which include a 24-hour rape crisis center and a rape education program for first-years--by keeping up a dialogue with administrators.

Not much was heard from SAS following the rally, either. After the University announced a policy of full disclosure of all Harvard apparel factory locations and endorsed a living wage for all overseas workers, SAS members and administrators have been in negotiations over a monitoring system.

Living Wage Campaign members have had less luck dealing with the administration. Members said they took a "positive step" by meeting with former Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III last spring, but also demanded to speak with higher-ups.

Whether the group will have more success by working with the new associate dean for student activities, David P. Illingworth '71, remains to be seen. An associate director in the financial aid office before assuming his current post, Illingworth has yet to take a public stance on the living wage issue.

Though things have quieted down somewhat, look for living wage advocates to keep making noise. And if SAS and the administration can't come to an agreement, those student activists may join in protest as well.

" Poverty-wage labor should be a source of embarrassment to every Harvard administrator," said Living Wage Campaign member Amy C. Offner '01. "And we intend to make it so."

--Jonelle M. Lonergan