Perhaps because members of the campaign feel they are fighting for a worthy cause, they have not been appeased by concessions from the University. They deemed a March meeting with Dean of Students Archie C. Epps III a positive step, but do not regard it as progress towards their ultimate goal.
Some concessions, in fact, only strengthened the campaign in its refusal to yield on its demands.
The campaign used an unprecedented labor "snap-shot" provided by the University to back up its claims, even though the University had intended the gesture to show that only a small number of Harvard employees earned less than $10 per hour.
The "snap-shot" for the week of February 20 showed that out of a total of 13,113 "regular employees"--wage-earners who work more than 17.5 hours a week--only 358, or just 2.7 percent, earn less than $10 an hour. Yet, out of 1,361 "casual employees," 669 or 49 percent made less than $10 an hour.
Casual workers are classified as those who work full-time for less than three months or less than 17.5 hours per week. They typically receive lower wages and no benefits. The snapshot did not include subcontracted workers who are brought into Harvard by outside firms.
"Essentially the numbers are bolstering our claims," said Aaron D. Bartley, a campaign organizer and first-year law school student. "There is an inordinate amount of casual labor going on. The fact that half of them are making less than $10 an hour says a lot."
The willingness of the interfaculty task force to analyze the issue pleased campaign members. They were even granted a meeting with Fineberg. But the campaign has not let up in its attempts to humiliate the University publicly, the strategy it believes will ultimately lead to success.
"We know that what makes Harvard give in is public embarrassment," said Amy C. Offner '01. "In the past, this has been what's been effective."
The growing visibility and strength of the campaign has won it ever-growing faculty support, adding to its momentum.
At the February rally, only one faculty member spoke, Harvard Law School Professor of General Jurisprudence Duncan M. Carter, who Bartley had personally approached to ask for support.
Slowly, as the campaign gains recognition, more faculty members sign on. Campaign members initially gained support by approaching their professors personally and by soliciting support from passing Faculty members during the March 9 rally.
These efforts gained a core of 15 Faculty members including Du Bois Professor of the Humanities Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Fletcher University Professor Cornel R. West '74, who even gave the Campaign a $50 check.
From this core group and with West's contribution, the Campaign decided to solicit all Harvard faculty for support with a six-page packet.
The original 15 living wage supporters have now swelled to over 115. The campaign can brag the support of such diverse faculty members as Institute of Politics Director Alan K. Simpson, a former Republican senator from Wyoming, to Bradshaw Professor of Public Policy Mary Jo Bane, a former Clinton administration adviser.
"If they don't respond to what the faculty are asking them to do, I don't know who they'll respect," said Greg R. Halpern '99, a campaign organizer.
The campaign says it will continue to exert pressure on the University through increased faculty support, to solicit progressive alumni over the summer, to conduct a "respectful" protest at Commencement.
"This is the most significant wave of activism since the 1960s," West said at a May 11 rally. "It shatters the stereotypes that young students are not concerned with what is right and just."
While both the sweatshop campaign and wage campaign have infused their rhetoric with their moral imperatives, they also have attempted to redefine who exactly is included in the "Harvard community" and what level of respect--financial and otherwise--they deserve.