Mills gave a brief presentation of the report's findings, and then students peppered the administrators with questions, challenging Mills to explain why the report did not call for a living wage.

Students presented their views forcefully but remained civil.

"There's a need for institutional change," said Aaron D. Bartley, a second-year law student. "The wage structure has eroded the position of service employees on this campus."

Mills said the committee did not recommend a living wage because they did not want to subvert the collective bargaining process. He said the committee did not want to set a specific figure that would require constant adjustment.

In addition, he said they felt setting a base universal wage would be too difficult to implement, and they considered the recommended benefits--designed to improve workers' quality of life and future job prospects--to be significant means of advancement.

He also said that very few of the University's employees earn less than $10 per hour.

The report states that of the University's 12,722 regular employees, only 372, about three percent, earn less than $10 per hour, and all are represented by unions. Of the University's 2,000 subcontracted service workers, employees of outside firms who perform custodial, security, parking or dining hall duty at Harvard, about 500 earn less than $10.