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Harvard’s graduate student union will bring a proposal calling for third-party arbitration in all discrimination and harassment cases to the bargaining table next week — a demand that may prove contentious in the union’s third set of contract negotiations.
The proposal would allow workers to bring harassment and discrimination cases to an external arbitrator, and has been one of the union’s key goals since its creation in 2018. But through two sets of contract negotiations, both involving strikes, it has been unable to obtain the provision.
Now, nearly two months into negotiations for its third contract, Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Auto Workers is preparing to bring it to the table once again.
The union’s current contract allows for third-party arbitration in some cases, including those involving abusive or intimidating behavior. But it does not permit independent investigation in Title IX cases, which are instead handled through internal University policies.
During its last set of contract negotiations, HGSU-UAW won the ability to take Title IX grievances to mediation if they are dissatisfied with how the University has addressed them. The mediation process brings in a third-party adviser to help both parties reach a consensus. But unlike third-party arbitration, mediation is non-binding — meaning it cannot enforce a resolution to the dispute.
Union members say they don’t believe Harvard will hold itself accountable. Some cited sexual harassment cases involving faculty — including recently retired Anthropology professor John L. Comaroff, who was sued by three graduate students in the department, and Government professor Jorge I. Dominguez, who faced misconduct allegations spanning nearly 40 years.
“The University cannot be trusted to investigate itself, and so we need third-party arbitration for those cases,” fifth-year Government Ph.D. student Dorothy Manevich said in February.
Though the option to use mediation has been in place since 2021, the procedure has not yet been used in discrimination and harassment cases, according to HGSU-UAW bargaining committee member Denish K. Jaswal, who has assisted with member grievances since 2020.
The union’s new proposal, which passed with 94 percent approval from members who voted, maintains the mediation provision. But it adds language allowing workers the option of pursuing independent arbitration alongside the University’s internal procedures for all discrimination cases, including those involving Title IX complaints.
The proposal follows a model that some other university unions — at Harvard and elsewhere — have already adopted.
Currently, the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers has a broad framework that allows workers to bring Title IX cases to third-party arbitration. And since HGSU-UAW’s last contract ratification in 2021, several graduate student unions at peer institutions — including Cornell, Dartmouth, and Brown — have won independent arbitration for Title IX cases.
“I’m hopeful that, given the changing grad landscape as well, Harvard will be more willing to accept these changes,” Jaswal said.
HGSU-UAW’s current proposal would go even further than the language in some other unions’ contracts. It would allow workers to go directly to union grievance processes — without necessarily waiting for the University to conduct an internal investigation.
The article also lists out more than a dozen examples of actions that could be considered sexual harassment and abusive or intimidating behavior.
In addition, the union has drafted language in its proposed non-discrimination article that would expand the list of protected categories to include medical status. The new language would create a more inclusive protected class of caregivers — rather than simply parents, who have protections in HGSU-UAW’s existing contract.
The union is also considering a proposal to create an agency shop, according to bargaining committee member Benjamin B. Daniels. An agency shop would require all workers under the union’s contract to pay union dues — though workers could still choose not to join the union as members.
HGSU-UAW’s requests for third-party arbitration and an agency shop were sticking points during the union’s last set of negotiations. In the end, the resulting contract lacked both provisions.
A University spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on either of the proposals on Thursday.
—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.
