“The administration is just being deliberately narrow with its definition,” said PSLM member Amy C. Offner ’01.

But University spokesperson Joe Wrinn said it is quite simply a question of how broad a definition of worker to include. The wages subcontracted and casual workers are simply more difficult to tally.

“Nobody is intentionally trying to change numbers or skew numbers,” Wrinn said yesterday.

“The principle remains the same, no matter what the number is,” Wrinn continued. “We counted everything during the time that we were looking at the issue. Our difference in number is just the size of the circle.”

But PSLM members lobbying for a living wage say it is essential to include outsourced workers in the count.

If a living wage were only granted to directly employed Harvard workers, PSLM members say they suspect that the University would simply hire more subcontracted and casual employees.

She cites the outsourcing of security guards to the SSI security firm in the summer of 1999. By outsourcing the guards, Harvard pays the firm rather than the individuals themselves.

“It’s crucial that they take responsibility for all the workers, especially since they continue to shift to outsourcing,” said PSLM member Emilou H. Maclean ’01. “These are really deceitful things that the University is doing.”