One O’Clock Walkout

Today, hundreds of Harvard students will join thousands of Americans across the country in demonstrations to protest anti-immigration legislation. We endorse this afternoon’s 1 p.m. walkout organized by the Harvard May-Day Coalition in order to raise awareness about an issue that has divided this country for the past months.

The May-Day Coalition’s walkout targets, most specifically, the backward congressional legislation HR 4437, which goes to extremes in a futile attempt at quelling the wave of illegal migration to the U.S. Although that legislation is likely dead, so too is much of the positive activity in the Senate. We hope this walkout will reawaken the Senate and bolster proponents of legislation such as the McCain-Kennedy Bill, which deals with the immigration in a far more sensible manner, treating immigrants as part of the fabric of our country—not as criminals.

We disagree with some of the details of the May-Day Coalition’s platform—namely, their opposition to the militarization of the border suggests that they support a more liberal border security regime than we would endorse—where it counts, the May-Day Coalition has it right: There are between 11 and 20 million immigrants in this country, and we must find a way to document and account for each of them. In order to do so, any legislation that aims to overhaul U.S. immigration laws must begin with a guest-worker program that includes a path toward citizenship. Ultimately, our economy and our way of life relies heavily on a steady inflow of immigrant labor; so long as this is the case, we must find ways to bring these immigrants into the fold of American life, rather then ignore their existence or treat them as pariahs.

Moreover, stemming the tide of immigration depends not on finding ways to make immigration crueler, but on finding ways to help develop the countries where widespread poverty leaves individuals with few choices but risking illegal immigration to the U.S. Although the idea of aiding poorer nations in Latin America has not weighed heavily in the immigration debate—and is not explicitly endorsed by the May-Day coalition—we hope that it is an idea that marchers will consider and support in the future.

Finally, while we mostly support the May-Day Coalition on political issues, we are uncomfortable with some professors’ decisions to reschedule regular class hours to accommodate students who wish to take part in the event. Professors’ political views should not affect the operation of their courses. Allowing them to do so unfairly penalizes students without the appetite for the walkout and sets a precedent that will discourage students in the future from enrolling in courses where they disagree with the professor’s political views. There are many reasons why a professor might have to reschedule a course—political activism, however, should not be among them.

Activism is healthy; it adds to the political discourse on a college campus, and often the College could do with a bit more of it. The May-Day Coalition has worked admirably to publicize this event, and we hope that students—even without the aid of professors’ bending schedules—decide to join the efforts to walkout against harmful immigration policies.