Harvardâs graduate student union met with University administrators last Tuesday to discuss concerns over health and safety, including access to mental health and specialist care, Covid-19 contact tracing, and protections for student workers working remotely.
Per Article 10 of its contract, Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Automobile Workers and the University meet to discuss health and safety at least twice each contract year. Wednesdayâs meeting between HGSU-UAW and Harvard representatives from the Office of Labor and Employee Relations, Harvard University Health Services, and Environmental Health and Safety occurred just days after the union filed an intent to bargain for its second contract.
She believes that confusion about the logistical aspects of Title IX could deter reporting in and of itself, pointing out that more students might seek supportive measures if they knew they could do so without starting a formal investigation.
Another misconception of Title IX is the tendency to view it as a criminal process. In actuality, Title IX is meant to ensure that sexual misconduct and gender-based discrimation do not prevent any student from fully participating in their education. Ryan points out that, âat the end of a Title IX proceeding, no oneâs going to jail. No oneâs going to prison, right? Itâs really about access to education, and thatâs why itâs so important.â
Weeks after student organizers at Columbia University announced a tuition strike to protest their administrationâs âflagrant disregardâ for proposed university-wide demands, Harvard student activists have not indicated if they will organize a tuition strike of their own.
In a November letter, strike organizers at Columbia called on their administration to lower tuition costs, increase financial aid, dismantle the campus private police force, and halt the Universityâs expansion into West Harlem.
If these concerns were not addressed, more than 2,000 Columbia students were prepared to withhold tuition payments and donations to the university, per the letter. As of Feb. 11, more than 4,400 students have signed a petition in support of the strike.
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.