Occupy Harvard Protesters Make Their Demands, Call for More Transparency and New Custodial Worker Contracts

Posted by erik devaney



Courtesy of gawker.com

The Occupy Wall Street protests have moved to one of the country’s most illustrious campuses: Harvard.

On Wednesday night, hundreds of students and supporters of the 99% movement began an occupation of Harvard Yard, and approximately 30 tents now occupy its grounds.

Occupy Boston recently carved out a space on its website, OccupyBoston.org, so that the newly formed Occupy Harvard group could make its presence — and its demands — known to the world.

Harvard, an Ivy League school with tuition and fees totaling over $50,000, seems an unlikely location for a protest against corporate greed. After all, many Harvard grads go on to join the 1%, while many students who attend the prestigious school are already in the 1% to begin with.

This notion, however, is not lost on Occupy Harvard organizers.

“Harvard is a diverse community that includes both the 1% and the 99%;” reads Occupy Harvard’s first press release.  “…we occupy here in solidarity with the global Occupy movement and with Occupy Boston.”

And while many Occupy protesters have been criticized for not having clearly defined goals or objectives, Occupy Harvard has made it a point to avoid such criticism. In the press release, Occupy Harvard expresses that it wants “a university for the 99%,” and lays out several examples of what that would entail.

  • A university for the 99% must adopt a new transparency policy, including disclosure of Harvard’s current investments as well as a commitment to not reinvest in HEI Hotels & Resorts or in land-grabbing hedge funds like Emergent Asset Management.
  • A university for the 99% would offer academic opportunities to assess responses to socioeconomic inequality outside the scope of mainstream economics.
  • A university for the 99% would implement debt relief for students who suffer from excessive loan burdens.
  • A university for the 99% would commit to increasing the diversity of Harvard’s graduate school faculty and students.
  • A university for the 99% would end the privilege enjoyed by legacies in the Harvard admissions process.
  • A university for the 99% would implement a policy requiring faculty to declare conflicts of interest.

Further, Occupy Harvard is calling for a just contract between the university and its custodial workers.

As the press release notes, “We see injustice in the 180:1 ratio between the compensation of Harvard’s highest-paid employee—the head of internal investments at Harvard Management Company—and the lowest-paid employee, an entry-level custodial worker.”

Check back with New England Post for the latest on the Occupy Harvard protest.

Related posts:

  1. Occupy Harvard: Students Set Up Tents in Harvard Yard as Part of Occupy Wall Street Protests
  2. March of the Zombies: Occupy Boston Protesters Parade Through Beacon Hill on Halloween in an Effort to Make Their Voices Heard
  3. Occupy Boston Protesters Undaunted by Arrests; Plans to Extend Protest into the Winter
  4. Occupy Boston Protesters Clash with Union Supporters During March on Beacon Hill
  5. City Serves Occupy Providence Protesters Eviction Notices as Freezing Temperatures Begin to Take Their Toll

Short URL: http://www.newenglandpost.com/?p=7703

Posted by erik devaney on Nov 11 2011. Filed under Featured - For home page featured article, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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