Harvard Academic Workers Union Circulates Petition to Ban Time Caps

Harvard Academic Workers-United Auto Workers began circulating a petition on Monday calling for the abolishment of time caps for non-tenure track faculty, a major sticking point for the union as it negotiates its first contract with the University.

Time caps — which limit non-tenure-track faculty at Harvard to a maximum term of two, three, or eight years, depending on the position — have long been a point of contention between lecturers, preceptors, and fellows and the University.

HAW-UAW, which voted to unionize in April and represents over 3,000 faculty and postdocs, began negotiations with the University for their first contract on Sept. 12. Union representatives sat down with the University for their second contract negotiation meeting on Wednesday, and time caps have already emerged as a key area of discussion.

The petition comes after Harvard representatives rejected a proposal by the HAW-UAW’s bargaining committee to establish a moratorium on time caps until the issue was resolved in negotiations.

“Harvard must negotiate in good faith with these newly unionized workers—not fire them,” HAW organizers wrote in the petition.

“There are members of our unit who are going to be hitting these hard time limits on different types of appointments and effectively fired from the University just because of how long we've been working here,” said J. Gregory Given, a lecturer at Harvard Divinity School and a member of HAW-UAW’s bargaining committee.

“It’s already starting to happen while we’re still bargaining for this contract,” Given added.

In response to the proposed moratorium, University representatives wrote in a statement to the HAW-UAW bargaining committee that turnover during the bargaining period is “not unusual.”

“We appreciate the Union’s desire to suspend a policy with which it disagrees,” they wrote in the statement. “The University will not, however, waive long-standing policies as part of a stand-alone proposal before the parties have fully engaged in bargaining and considered the issue of term limits in the full context of this first contract between the parties.”

The petition also comes after five lecturers in the History and Literature Department departed this year, resulting in the cancellation of six classes. Though History and Literature Director of Studies Lauren O. Kaminsky wrote in a statement to The Crimson that this year’s course shifts were “not unusual,” some organizers attribute non-tenure-track faculty departures to time caps — either direct expiration, or the pressure to move on to more permanent roles.

“There isn’t something waiting for them at Harvard,” said Sara M. Feldman, a HAW-UAW Bargaining Committee member and preceptor in Yiddish.

“In the case of Hist and Lit, they’re not allowed to stay more than three years, so that won’t even allow a student who’s working with them to finish with the person that was their mentor,” Feldman said.

In a post on X, Harvard Academic Workers said the petition is “fighting back” against the “cruel and arbitrary” policy after Harvard declined to impose the moratorium on time caps.

Some organizers also pointed to the negative impact time-cap policies have on College students and department faculty.

“We all know that policy needs to change for the sake of not only of our members, but also for the sake of our students, who are constantly losing their mentors, and of our colleagues and co-workers who are constantly running unnecessary searches to replace people who are doing a good job,” Feldman said.

—Staff writer Aran Sonnad-Joshi can be reached at aran.sonnad-joshi@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @asonnadjoshi.

—Staff writer Sheerea X. Yu can be reached at sheerea.yu@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @_shuhree_.