Admission to the program does not hinge on any specific educational requirements. Of the 98 men and six women who have enrolled since 1942, few have earned college degrees and some have not even finished grade school: their average age is about 35 years.
Nevertheless, Healy says, the union representatives do "extremely well" in their studies, although it sometimes takes them a few weeks to become acclimatized to their surroundings. Since the course is geared for students with extensive practical experience in labor work, Healy has found that the students' deficiencies in formal education have not hampered them in their work here; most of the courses are run under the case system, and discussions are held on an informal basis.
In the two courses which the labor leaders take in conjunction with students from the Business School, the Advanced Management Program and the School of Public Administration, the Fellows' industrial background generally gives then an edge in class discussions.
The overall scheme of the program is designed especially for the union representatives. The course work deals with actual policy questions and decisions with which labor leaders are faced; negotiation of agreements, presentation of problems to government agencies, and arbitrators.
Since the representatives come from a variety of industries, special assignments are periodically handed out covering the students' own fields. The particular problems of the Railroad Workers' Brotherhoods are generally singled out because of the unique organizational setup of that group.
A.F.L. Strong
Most of the American participants in the program are members of branches of the American Federation of Labor; C.I.O. students have always been a definite minority. Healy points out that, despite President Philip Murray's enthusiastic endorsement of the project, the C.I.O. seems to be "a little suspicious" of the Harvard label which it bears and prefers to rely on its own educational system in training labor executives.
Murray's praise has been echoed by many other important figures in the labor world. "This program has...made a very appreciable contribution to the organized labor movement in this country," A.F.L. President William Green has declared.
"Our unions are increasingly faced with the most complex variety of problems; and its is most essential that we develop a large group of union members and officers who are qualified by training and study to help this country's organized labor movement find constructive solutions, not only to labor problems but to the issues which confront the entire nation."