FAS Officials Confront Union Organizers Over Harvard’s Campus Use Rules During Rally

Faculty of Arts and Sciences officials confronted members of Harvard’s campus unions over their use of a megaphone at a Thursday rally on the steps of Widener Library, citing a violation of Harvard’s campus use rules.

More than 100 demonstrators from multiple campus unions marched from Harvard’s Office of Labor and Employee Relations in Harvard Square to Harvard Yard, where they used megaphones to amplify calls for fair contracts to the supporters and parents visiting campus for Family Weekend.

But midway through the rally, two FAS officials approached union organizers and asked them to stop using their megaphone to amplify their speeches, citing it as a violation of campus use rules. Harvard added a rule in August 2024 that banned amplified sounds at public demonstrations without prior approval — part of a policy revamp following the pro-Palestine spring encampment.

After the protest ended, one of the officials asked to see at least two organizers’ Harvard University IDs, again citing the violation of campus use rules. University officials regularly record Harvard IDs before issuing disciplinary warnings or Administrative Board summons.

A University spokesperson declined to comment on whether the University would be disciplining organizers.

But Harvard Graduate Student Union-United Automobile Workers Vice President Sudipta Saha said that the workers’ use of megaphones was protected under the National Labor Relations Act, a federal labor law that he said would supersede Harvard’s campus rules.

The confrontation marks the second time in one week that campus unions have invoked federal labor law to circumvent campus use rules. During a postering campaign on Oct. 16, organizers argued that their Black Lives Matter posters — which were not approved by campus administrators in advance — could not be taken down because they pertained to labor conditions and were protected by the NLRA. As of Thursday, the BLM posters are still up in multiple locations.

Four major campus unions — representing graduate students, undergraduates, non-tenure-track faculty, custodians, and security guards — are currently engaged in contract negotiations with the University, with two negotiating their first agreements.

The Thursday rally and confrontation with FAS officials — held directly after graduate students and custodians finished bargaining sessions with the University — heightened tensions as bargaining parties hash out policies on non-discrimination, international worker protections, and time caps.

Demonstrators from Harvard Graduate Students Union walk across the yard to Widener steps. By Pavan V. Thakkar

On Thursday, workers carried signs urging Harvard not to settle with the Trump administration and calling for continued attention to union demands.

“Negotiate with your workers not Trump,” one sign read.

Though a judge ruled in September that the administration’s freeze of more than $2.6 billion in federal funding to Harvard was unconstitutional, Harvard has taken a series of austerity measures, laying off roughly 15 percent of staff in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences earlier this month and cutting FAS Ph.D. admissions by more than half.

University negotiators proposed keeping wages flat for the next fiscal year in an offer to its non-tenure-track faculty union earlier this month, and a Harvard spokesperson explained that the offer was part of the larger effort to cut costs.

But while the University’s most recent financial report catalogued its first deficit since 2020, it also saw a nearly 12 percent return on its endowment — and workers have argued that its unrestricted funds should be used to curb the impacts of federal economic pressure.

“The Trump attacks are being used to create a veneer of a financial crisis that doesn’t exist,” Saha said in a speech during the rally.

A University spokesperson also declined to comment on statements made during the rally.

The rally marks the third inter-union demonstration of the year, following a Visitas rally held in April and last week’s postering campaign. While the unions are still in early bargaining stages, Saha — the HGSU-UAW vice president — said his union was already considering escalation.

“If we don’t get a fair deal, we strike,” he said.

—Staff writer Hugo C. Chiasson can be reached at hugo.chiasson@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @HugoChiassonn.

—Staff writer Amann S. Mahajan can be reached at amann.mahajan@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @amannmahajan.