Harvard Proctors and Tutors Plan to Launch Unionization Push

Some Harvard residential tutors, proctors, and house aides are planning to publicly launch a campaign for unionization, an effort they have been quietly working towards since last spring.

The group, called Harvard Union of Residential Advisors, has been organizing privately since May and plans to file a representation petition with the National Labor Relations Board.

Brandon M. Martinez ’20, a co-leader of HURA, said the group is “at a point where we’re really strong and united.”

“There’s only an opportunity to go public once, so we are seizing on that moment,” he said.

Martinez said HURA hopes to negotiate with the University on issues including workload, compensation, job protection, and overall transparency.

According to Haden F. Smiley ’19, a member of HURA and a third-year tutor in Currier, HURA’s campaign gained traction after former proctor Elom Tettey-Tamaklo was indefinitely relieved of his duties following his involvement in a confrontation at a pro-Palestine protest in November. Tettey-Tamaklo has not since been reinstated to his post.

“Before that time, I don’t think that there was much movement,” Smiley said. “That’s when I wanted to get involved.”

Smiley said Tettey-Tamaklo’s dismissal “happened without any procedure, or transparency or equity, and in fact was a very political decision, from my perspective.”

“The University made it clear that this role was very precarious and the benefits we enjoyed were something that could be taken away from us for very little reason and very quickly,” they added.

Harvard spokesperson Jonathan Palumbo declined to comment, citing policy against commenting on personnel issues.

According to Martinez, HURA intends to bargain with the University for a baseline compensation standard for residential advising roles, as well as standardized additional stipends for participation in undergraduate House committees.

“We also have a really important ask of the University which is to pay everybody in the residential staff system from house aid to proctor to tutor, because that system can be not only haphazard but also opaque and unclear,” Martinez said.

Currently, the compensation system for participation in undergraduate House committees varies across committees and Houses, per Martinez.

“Alongside making sure there is pay at a base level for participating or belonging to the role and a community, we would like to have a say in which positions get compensated and make sure those are paid across the board,” he said.

Palumbo wrote in an emailed statement that “we deeply value the important role that tutors, proctors, and Faculty Dean aides serve in shaping the academic and residential lives of Harvard College students.”

“As critical members of our community, we value their feedback and will continue to provide opportunities to improve our work together toward our shared goal of providing a transformational experience for our students,” Palumbo wrote.

Smiley also highlighted the imbalanced workload when certain residential advisers take on specialty roles.

“With my roles, with the BGLTQ and the share-specialty roles, I don’t have really any guaranteed funding,” Smiley said. “I have to work harder to get funding for them, and so the the hours that I’m putting in look different as well.”

In addition to the workload and compensation concerns, some HURA members have also voiced complaints about inadequate housing conditions.

“There have been times when proctors and house aides have had to live through sub-zero temperatures, with apertures and openings to the elements at those times. There have been times when people have dealt with insect and rodent infestations,” Martinez said.

Smiley said residential advisers have a singular position on campus as not only employees but also tenants of Harvard.

“Our employer is also our landlord, and therefore has say over our housing, and that’s a unique position to be in as a worker,” Smiley said. “We deserve secure housing.”

“Harvard doesn’t make a very good landlord,” they said.

HURA members said the benefits of unionizing would extend beyond residential tutors, proctors, and house aides to also positively impact the students they work with.

Smiley said they are “really excited by the opportunity for this kind of collective leverage that HURA is working toward.”

“An equitable and transparent workplace would not just affect our lives but the students as well,” Smiley said.

Martinez also pointed to the potential benefits HURA could provide for students.

“Every staff member who works with students has a wonderful experience in that part of the role and loves it,” Martinez said. “We are looking for ways to be more effective in that role and to have more of a voice in the process.”

“We have the utmost hope for cooperation with the University, in getting ourselves from this stage to a full bargain with them in the next couple months or so,” Martinez 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_.