Student Labor Activists Bake for Living Wage Campaign

They have marched and rallied, chanted and picketed. Yesterday, they baked brownies.

Members of the Living Wage Campaign, run by the Progressive Student Labor Movement (PSLM),

set up a bake sale at the Science Center yesterday. As passers-by ate brownies, PSLM members discussed the group's push for Harvard to pay a minimum of $10 per hour to every employee.

"It was a good, clever way to point out the University's stinginess on this issue," said PSLM member William W. Erickson '00-'01.

Though the brownies were free, campaign members encouraged passers-by to donate money for one of two causes, "Bake Sale for a Living Wage" and "Bake Sale for Another Tacky Hollow $4 Mill. Tower."

The event was a tongue-in-cheek technique drawing attention to Harvard's wealth.

"This is a tactic that has been used for when you're dealing with a very wealthy institution," said PSLM member Amy C. Offner '01.

"It was not one of our major educational events. It was designed to be fun, and if we got info out at the event, then great," she added.

But the bake sale did not run as smoothly as planned.

Midway through, a group of Fox final club initiates joined the Living Wage Campaign outside the Science Center, and the campaign moved its table.

Prospective members of the Fox held a mock protest against bad dining hall food, at which they sang "We Shall Overcome."

"I thought it was sort of offensive and sad," Erickson said. "There were some union members standing there and they were pretty upset."

But those who took part in the initiation event said they did not mean to be offensive.

"It wasn't intentionally meant to disrupt their rally," said Fox initiate Justin S. Wohler '02.