Pressure is mounting inside and outside of Massachusetts Hall at the university just two T-stops from Tufts as 40 students continue their six-day sit-in to demand a living wage for Harvard employees.
Politicians, religious leaders, Harvard faculty, and graduate students have all come out to support the protesters, but the Harvard administration seems unmoved.
Colorful tents have decorated Harvard Yard since Friday, when seven students emerged from the administrative building and erected a "tent city" to increase their outside presence and attract attention from media, politicians, alumni, and the community at large. Over 50 people camped out Sunday night and more tents have been donated by supporters, adding to the already two dozen standing tents.
But the sit-in, posters, banging drums, and innovative chants have not moved the Harvard administration. Jow Wrin, Harvard's spokesman, said Saturday that negotiations would not take place while the sit-in continues, and there are rumors that the police may evacuate the building.
Increasingly, however, members of the Harvard and Boston community have demonstrated support for the Living Wage Campaign, a year-and-a-half long endeavor by the Progressive Student Labor Movement (PSLM). The protestors are demanding that Harvard pay a minimum wage of $10.25 per hour to all university employees.
Although PSLM members worked hard to promote their efforts, they did not expect to receive as much support and enthusiasm from such varied and often high-ranking figures. On Saturday, the Massachusetts State Democratic Party issued a press release endorsing both the Living Wage Campaign and the Harvard sit-in. US Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, and AFL-CIO President John Sweeney paid in-person visits to Mass Hall to show their support for the PSLM. Though Kennedy was denied entrance to Mass. Hall by the Harvard police, he was allowed to shake hands with protesters through opened windows.
"Something positive happens every few hours," junior Alex Horowitz said, speaking through a side window of Mass. Hall.
Over 100 alumni have pledged not to donate money to Harvard in support of the Living Wage Campaign, and one prominent undisclosed benefactor - whose name engraves the entrance of one of the university buildings - decided to shift his donations from Harvard to the living wage fund.
A number of notable figures, along with hoards of students, have attended daily noon rallies since the beginning of the sit-in. While dining workers march around Mass. Hall every night, bringing protesters meals, many of the students inside Mass. Hall and PSLM organizers outside chose to fast yesterday to demonstrate their commitment to the cause.
Divided into four non-hierarchical affinity groups with rotating spokespersons, the students inside Mass. Hall have brainstormed plans for the remainder of the sit-in. A consensus was reached Friday for three students to leave the building and begin the "tent city" outside.
Those who exited possessed particular skills, including communication and video-editing abilities, which have been helpful in preparing a video that is repeatedly played to the crowd while those rallying take breaks and rest their voices.
"A visual presence is important because that way we cannot be ignored," said Adams Racks, speaking through a heavily decorated window of Mass. Hall. The founders of the "tent city" were joined by four other students on Saturday.
Protesters are criticizing Harvard for denying its workers a living wage, which the city of Cambridge fixes at $10.25. Those in the sit-in also refute the wage statistics figures provided by Harvard. While the university claims there are only 300-400 workers who receive wages under $10.25 per hour, the protesters argue that approximately 1,000 other employees - usually subcontracted or temporary workers who are not allowed to unionize - have not been accounted for.
The policies that the university has created to abate PSLM discontent have further angered the group, since the ad hoc committee hand-picked by university administrators to solve the issue failed to include students and workers and, according to the activists, only addressed the wage complaints of 19 employees.
"The workers who have spoken at the rally have stated that they were insulted by the committee's actions," Horowitz said, adding that the Harvard Corporation which controls university finances chose not to pay a living wage to cut costs. "It does not consider workers to be a part of the Harvard community, as students, faculty, and alumni do."
But not all students protesting at Mass. Hall are from Harvard. Iris Halpern, a junior at Tufts who worked at Harvard for a year and a half researching global reproductive health, chanted loudly and gathered supporters at noon to march around the administrative building.
"I felt it was ridiculous that I was a part-time worker at Harvard and was getting paid $10 an hour when I'm still financially supported by my family, and these people can't even get that amount and they depend on themselves," she said.
Halpern had been living inside Mass. Hall until Friday, when she decided her communication skills would be of greater service outside in the construction of the "tent city."
"The inside has an element of glory and solidarity, but after working out here, I realize it's as important or more important," she said. "Both are pretty intense, but the people out here are still part of the sit-in; they are doing things people inside can't do," she said.
By denying a living wage, Halpern said, Harvard administrators are complicit in creating poverty in America.
A member of Amnesty International and Habitat for Humanity, among other organizations at Tufts, Halpern commended the Tufts administration for its quick response to last semester's sit-in at Bendetson Hall. "I have to hand Tufts some credit because they started talking to us after one day of a sit-in," she said. "You can't just ignore a peaceful sit-in."
PSLM members do not plan to extend their takeovers to other Harvard buildings, saying the highest ranking administrators - the president, the vice president, and provost - all work in Mass. Hall. They did, however, protest a meeting for prospective students on Saturday, distributing leaflets to incoming freshmen. One-third of the questions asked by visitors to Harvard, Horowitz said, referred to the sit-in.
Support has come from unexpected sources, Halpern said, noting that workers at the Harvard T stop allowed those wearing Living Wage Campaign pins to travel free, smiling through the glass windows inside their booths.
The PSLM's website, which is continuously updated with the latest sit-in news, suggested that the national media has purposely glossed over coverage of the protest, the longest sit-in the history of the Ivy League, and the first since 1969. Articles have appeared in The Boston Globe, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, but some PSLM members insist that the university is repressing their efforts to get widespread media exposure.
As of yesterday, the protestors had no plans to end the sit-in.
"You'll never convince them you're doing the right thing, but you might embarrass them into doing something," said UMass-Amherst Professor Robert Wolff, speaking to the crowd.
