But there would be no end-run around a student union. If students could maintain their solidarity, firms would have no recourse but to recognize the union if they wanted to recruit from its membership. And for the first few firms that signed on, it would be a public relations bonanza to have exclusive access to the "best" graduating seniors in the nation.
The potential risk for companies that ignored the union would far outweigh the risk incurred by students who joined. The very worst that could happen to students is that recruiters would blacklist them, and they would never work in consulting or investment banking again. Instead, we'd all be forced to become teachers or do something else socially redeeming. The average Yale or Harvard senior has unparalleled opportunities, though, and the threat of never working in consulting shouldn't really be too meaningful. Besides, blacklisting is illegal.
It's also true that Harvard students would be universally condemned for the sheer greed of demanding even more on top of the already-generous salaries business recruiters offer. I imagine it would be similar to the scorn many people have for baseball players, who make more than a million dollars a year on average but still belong to a union and occasionally go on strike. Not fair! Recruiting firms have been exploiting student greed to win recruits for years. If anything, a union would mitigate the pervasive presence of greed on this campus by reminding students that there is more to college--and to life--than just their own checkbooks.
But any union worth its salt has demands. What could seniors demand? As it is, the recruiting firms are pretty good to us. Higher starting salaries? Contributions to the Senior Gift? Catered meals for seniors at the Charles Hotel every night? No one knows how much the companies are willing to spend. The proverbial sky is the limit--and, therefore, we demand hot air balloon rides for everyone.
Would it be immoral to try to extort as much as possible from recruiters? I don't think so. I took Ec 10, after all, and I know that my self-interest is the only thing that matters. And more stuff from recruiters is in my self-interest. Regardless, these are companies that treat our education like a commodity. And, if we're going to sell out, we might as well go at the highest price we can get.
Students of America: We have nothing to lose but our signing bonuses. We have a world to win. Future consultants of all colleges, unite!
Alan E. Wirzbicki '01, president of The Crimson, is a history and literature concentrator in Eliot House.