Harvard’s Graduate Union Installs Third New President in Less Than 1 Year

Updated August 24, 2024, at 1:18 p.m.

Sara V. Speller, the former vice president of Harvard’s graduate union, assumed the presidency in late July after her predecessor stepped down, becoming the union’s third leader in less than a year.

Speller, a Music student at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, took over the post from former Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Auto Workers President Bailey A. Plaman, who resigned after serving just eight months in office.

Plaman shared her decision at a HGSU-UAW general membership meeting on July 18.

The new presidency exchange is the latest in a series of recent vacancies in the union’s top post. Under the union’s bylaws, the vice president takes over as president for the remainder of the term if the president vacates their office.

Before assuming the presidency in late 2023, Plaman served as vice president under former HGSU-UAW President Evan C. MacKay ’19, who stepped down to run for Massachusetts State House.

Speller is expected to serve out the remainder of MacKay’s term, which expires in 2026.

Speller helms HGSU-UAW at a pivotal time for the young union, which is preparing to begin negotiating with Harvard for their third contract. The current contract, which expires on June 30, 2025, came after eight months of negotiations and a three-day strike.

Though the contract contained several union wins, there are likely to be many remaining sticking points between HGSU and the University in the upcoming negotiations, including Harvard’s treatment of student workers involved in campus activism and the use of nearly $3 million in emergency funds for union members.

“I’m really excited to see the union get even better benefits, have our rights recognized even more, have the protections that we need to really do our best work in the workplace,” Speller said.

Despite the rapid leadership turnover at the top levels of the union, Plaman said they did not feel the presidential transition would significantly affect negotiations.

“I don’t really see it as changing our preparedness,” Plaman said.

“Having new people on the executive board is just shuffling around who’s doing what,” Plaman added. “We still have a larger group of folks that are members, that are engaged, that are really leading the union forward.”

Speller said she believes the role of the executive board is to “uplift what the rank-and-file members democratically decide.”

“While the person who may be possessing the role of president might be changing, I think the goals and the mission and the energy is very consistent and has been pretty consistent over the last few years,” she said.

Correction: August 22, 2024

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Bailey A. Plaman served for six months as president of Harvard’s graduate student union. In fact, Plaman served for eight months as the union’s president.

—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_.