Union Members Approve Bylaws
The Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers (HUCTW) voted last Thursday to approve its bylaws, opening the way for elections to be held later this fall, union organizer Marie Manna said yesterday.
More than 900 of the 1600 support staff members who have officially joined the union turned out for the vote. Of those 900 an "overwhelming" 94 percent voted to approve the bylaws, Manna said.
The nomination process for approximately 250 elected positions will begin next week. Union members will have the opportunity to serve on the executive board, on 25 "joint councils" across campus, as campus-wide officers and as representatives to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), HUCTW's parent union.
The last step in completing HUCTW's internal organization is to ask the president of AFSCME to approve the bylaws, which Manna said she is confident he will do.
Although the union has yet to finalize the formal language of its contract with the University, Manna said she is generally pleased with the progress of the negotiations and expects them to conclude "within the next few weeks."
QRA Enrolls 180 Sophomores
The Quantitative Reasoning Requirement (QRR) program has successfully accommodated the more than 400 sophomores who returned this fall on academic probation, after failing one or both parts of the exam, students and administrators said yesterday.
And, although an unprecedented number of undergraduates--180 in all--have enrolled in Quantitative Reasoning A (QRA), a class for those who repeatedly fail Harvard's requirement, Barbara Peskins, the program's director, said there have been no complaints about overcrowding.
The QRR can be fulfilled by passing a computer exam and a data test or by successfully completing QRA or one of its substitute courses.
"The course is definitely larger than in previous years," Peskins said, adding that while students can still pass the requirement this week, those who do not may still enroll in the class.
But while the class may be cumbersome, many of the sophomores who have yet to fulfill the requirement said they have developed a sense of camaraderie in the face of an increasingly bothersome obstacle.
"The class is ridiculous," said T.C. Haldi '92, a student enrolled in QRA. "By now, most people see the test and the class as a joke."
Asbestos Removed From Library
Small amounts of asbestos have been removed from pipes in Houghton Library to facilitate renovations of the building's climate control system, according to Facilities Maintenance Project Manager Thomas M. Melvin.
Facilities Maintenance, which supervised the operation, plans similar projects in the library during the next week, Melvin said.
"There are two locations where we're going to remove about two or three feet of asbestos on two pipes, in order to cut into some valves," he said.
Because asbestos has been shown to cause cancer, health regulations require that it be removed from buildings before any renovations or construction can begin.
"We routinely remove asbestos in lots of places," said Michael N. Lichten, director of physical operations at facilities maintenance. "It's not a big deal."
Earlier this fall, the University spent about $350,000 to remove hazardous asbestos materials from the walls of the Faculty Club in order to continue its multi-million dollar renovations that began this summer.