For a week, Harvard University students have been occupying the office of President Neil Rudenstine demanding the University pay its employees a living wage of $10.25 an hour. Several state and national politicians have visited the protesters and expressed their support, including Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who met privately with Rudenstine yesterday to encourage him to increase Harvard wages. Harvard currently pays as little as $6.50 to some of its workers. The University has defended itself by saying fewer than 400 of its 13,000 make less than $10 an hour. Students at Harvard are using civil disobedience to push an issue and a viewpoint they truly care about.
While the students’ efforts are guided by good intentions, they are asking for too much based on an unstable argument. Also, they are not aware of the potential consequences of an increase in the minimum salary.
First, the pay raise the students are asking for is enormous. It represents a 67 percent increase in the current minimum salary paid to some University employees, which has the potential to break the budgets of several Harvard offices and programs. The students would be better off demanding a gradual increase in the minimum that corresponds with rising inflation eliminating any sudden impact that could be made in the Harvard budget.
Another option would be to ask for an increase to a slightly lower pay rate. Perhaps they could ask for $8.05 an hour, which Kennedy suggested should be the national minimum wage in order to ensure the minimum has the same purchasing power as it did in 1968.
Part of the argument used by the students to call for increased wages is the idea that workers should be able to live in the same area where they work. Although this argument has some merit, it is not the most sound. It is very easy and commonplace for Boston-area workers to live in one area of the city and commute to their workplaces, especially with the MBTA providing ample service to Cambridge.
Furthermore, an increase in wages could actually hurt Harvard workers. Such a sudden increase would, no doubt, squeeze various Harvard University budgets. One of the easiest ways for businesses to cut costs is to cut jobs. It would be a travesty for the students’ efforts to leave workers worse off than before.
At this time, the students are convinced their way is the only way to go, but they must realize a compromise is the only realistic solution.
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