Living Wage Campaign Meets Provost

Nearly two months after the Living Wage Campaign demanded to meet with the Harvard's president or provost, they got their wish yesterday--but members say they are still not satisfied.

Four campaign members met with Provost Harvey V. Fineberg '67 and Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III yesterday afternoon. At issue was the faculty task force the administration has convened to examine the campaign's claims.

But members were unhappy with Fineberg's refusal to guarantee that the task force would lead to policy, or even to say for sure when the task force would conclude its inquiry.

In the meeting, Fineberg promised to meet again with the campaign before Commencement, but said the faculty task force would take at least six months to gather its data.

The campaign had earlier demanded that the University commit to raise the wages of all employees to $10 per hour by May 1.

Fineberg said yesterday he was pleased with the meeting's exchange of perspectives.

"The meeting today was a good, cordial session. I heard the views expressed by each of these students and respect their commitment," Fineberg said.

However, while both parties said the meeting was "cordial," campaign members said they were deeply disappointed by what they saw as a lack of moral leadership by President Neil L. Rudenstine and Fineberg.

"It was disappointing that the President and Provost decline to do what they need to do to commit to implementation by May 1," said Christopher J. Vaeth, a second-year student at Harvard Divinity School and a campaign organizer.

"President Rudenstine and the Provost are abandoning responsibility to the [faculty] task force," he added.

Vaeth said the faculty task force will be helpful in examining the facts of employment at Harvard, but would be hindered by its ability only to make recommendations for action, coupled with the lack of a firm deadline..

Vaeth said he was also concerned the task force's mandate was so narrow as to make it simply a data-collecting and -processing organ.

"The tone of the memo makes the task force look like a calculator. Punch in some numbers, put in an equation and press the equal sign," he said.

"There was no tone of moral imperative. Harvard needs to evaluate who it considers to be members of the community," Vaeth added.

But the University apparently sees this task force as more of a research group than the architect of a revolution in wage scales.

"In a large and complex institution where contracting is decentralized (and where arrangements may change from year to year), it is important to assess this situation periodically," Rudenstine wrote in a press release.

One of the goals of the task force will be to analyze the growth of what Rudenstine termed the "contingent work force."

This term refers to "casual workers," who work less than three months or less than 17.5 hours week, and subcontracted workers.

Rudenstine seemed to acknowledge the vocal activism of the campaign, but it appears that even stronger measures may be to come if the campaign continues to see the University as dragging its feet on this issue.

"Our deadline was May 1. The provost said it was impossible to meet that deadline. We want to make them think about their intransigence," Vaeth said.

While Vaeth promised continued action, he said that a protest planned for Commencement would be a great opportunity to reach families of students, alumni and the media.

"It's fair to say something will happen on [Commencement] day, " he said.

"We feel like we've gotten a lot of support and it's growing. Just ask anybody on this campus if they're heard about the campaign and they'll say yes," Vaeth said.

Task Force Named

The task force will be chaired by Weatherhead Professor of Business Administration D. Quinn Mills, and will include five faculty members and three high-ranking administrators drawn from across the University.

"They're trying to get a group of people who don't have a clear alignment on this issue and people with economic knowledge," said Associate Dean of Harvard Law School Frank E. A. Sander, a task force member.

The task force's first meeting will not be until Thursday, April 15.