Harvard denied a grievance filed by its graduate student union regarding the exclusion of 108 Population Health Sciences students from the union s bargaining unit.
The University issued the decision on Jan. 6 in response to the grievance filed by Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Automobile Workers on Dec. 3. The union alleged in the Step One grievance the first stage in the grievance process per its contract with the University that the exclusion violated multiple articles in their contract that define the bargaining unit and rights and protections associated with union membership.
University spokesperson Jason A. Newton wrote in an emailed statement that Harvard administrators have determined Population Health Sciences students are only in the HGSU-UAW bargaining unit when they receive additional compensation for teaching and research duties, beyond their program stipend.
Harvardâs graduate student union filed a grievance against the University and met with administrators earlier this month in response to Harvardâs decision to exclude 108 students in Population Health Sciences from the unionâs bargaining unit.
Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Auto Workers filed the grievance on Dec. 3 against the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Public Health. Population Health Sciences is administered by GSAS but housed for practical purposes in SPH. The University has until Jan. 6 to issue a formal response.
Union grievance officers Eric R. Cohn and Hannah J. Pinkham from HGSU-UAWâs Contract Enforcement and Education Committee presented the unionâs case at a Step One grievance meeting on Dec. 16, which marks the first stage of the grievance process as laid out in the unionâs contract.
Harvard Summer School suspended all study-abroad programming for the summer of 2021, citing concerns over the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Administrators in Harvard’s Division of Continuing Education, the department in charge of summer study-abroad programs, determined that it would not be in students’ and faculty members’ best interests to carry out summer programming for 2021 given rising global COVID-19 case counts, according to DCE spokesperson Harry J. Pierre.
The decision falls in line with previously announced policy; University Provost Alan M. Garber, in a Nov. 17 email to Harvard affiliates, announced that all University-related international travel would remain prohibited until further notice.
“With COVID-19 cases rising across the United States and the world, the prohibition on University-related travel, both international and domestic, remains in effect until further notice,” Garber’s email read.