To the editors:

In response to James Sullivan's piece on Harvard security guard wages (Opinion, March 23), it is important to differentiate between media frenzy and true cause. It is truly heartbreaking to hear the thoughts of the university guards who have given ten years to this place, and felt that they have been treated like garbage. Disturbing words like these can create a biased opinion in people's belief. Nothing beats using Harvard as the scapegoat and invoking its name for emotional stir.

A look at the disastrous social programs in the U.S., however, might be able to provide a more objective view of the subject. Since 1965, anti-poverty programs and other wealth transfers have continued to explode in cost while poverty rate kept rising. Most people agree that bringing people out of poverty is critical to human survival, but increasing the "minimum wage" is not the key to help the needy.

The only way to increase real wages on a sustainable basis is to increase productivity. Artificially and arbitrarily increasing the guards' wages is simply a transaction to transfer wealth from Harvard to its employees, thereby taking away the University's power to reinvest in new long-term capital goods, which in turn, could increase the productivity of Harvard in order to increase the real wages on a sustainable basis. Some might find the argument unconvincing simply because the concept of productivity is vague.

What if Harvard begins to reassess the productivity of each guard after an increase of the distorted wages? If Harvard finds that each laborer is not up to par with the competitive going wage, who will stop Harvard from firing these hard-working guards?

According to the author of "Hedge Fund Edge" Mark Boucher and most experts in the field, a higher wage for these guards does not put a floor under wages, as its advocates surmise, but it puts a ceiling on low skilled labor employment levels. These guards who do not possess the skills to justify their wage increase will simply be cut out of the job market entirely.

Would you rather see all these guards work than some getting fired by the university? If the difference is between $8 per hour and $10, as a conscientious student, I would rather see all of them working, which might alleviate the rising rate of security problems on campus. Don't be disgruntled by lower wages, but be content with full-time employment.

If $8 per hour is no longer attractive in the eyes of some, then perhaps it is time to move on by training into a profession which offers higher wages. Instead of shouting for higher wages, concerned students might be able to provide greater help by quietly helping these guards with specific training they need to move on.