Grad Students Rally Outside Garber’s Home as Strike Enters Third Week

A small group of striking graduate student workers rallied outside Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76’s private residence early Friday morning, marking a new escalation in the Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Auto Workers’ ongoing strike as contract negotiations with the University remain stalled.

Roughly 10 demonstrators gathered outside Garber’s home from about 6 to 6:30 a.m., chanting and writing “CONTRACT NOW” in pink chalk on the sidewalk. The group represented a small fraction of HGSU-UAW, which represents roughly 5,000 graduate student workers.

“Garber, Garber, stop stonewalling; this is HGSU calling!” demonstrators chanted. They also shouted, “Hey, Garber, how do you sleep — while workers cannot make ends meet?”

Union organizer Jacob Wolf said the rally was intended to pressure Harvard’s central administration to schedule more frequent bargaining sessions and move closer to the union’s demands.

“We’re still not seeing the movement that we want to see or need to see from the University,” Wolf said. “We feel like we need to make our presence known, especially to those in power at the University.”

A Harvard spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment

No direct confrontation with Garber took place, though someone inside the house appeared to photograph the demonstrators from a window, according to Wolf.

Wolf said the demonstrators left after Cambridge Police officers informed them they were violating a local noise ordinance barring loud activity before 7 a.m.

Garber’s residence has previously been a site of campus protest. In May 2024, hundreds of pro-Palestine demonstrators marched to his home after Garber warned that students participating in the Harvard Yard encampment could face involuntary leave. Later that month, pro-Palestine protesters again gathered outside Garber’s residence to denounce disciplinary action against students involved in the encampment and to warn of possible Commencement disruptions.

Wolf said Friday’s rally reflected a broader effort to escalate pressure on Harvard’s administration as the strike stretches into its third week.

“We need to escalate our disruptions to some extent, or at least refocus on disruptions, to make it clear to the leaders of the University that we’re very serious,” Wolf said.

Still, Wolf said the union was not seeking an in-person confrontation with Garber.

“Our goal is just to make our presence known and get him to do the thing that we want him to do, which is offer us more bargaining sessions, take them seriously and more seriously engage with our demands at the bargaining table,” he said.

The rally came as Harvard and HGSU-UAW remain divided over wages and benefits, protections for noncitizen workers, recourse in Title IX cases, and the union’s proposed agency shop provision.

Four additional bargaining sessions are scheduled for May 14, May 29, June 9, and June 23. Harvard first proposed the dates on April 1, though the union did not accept them until more than three weeks later.

At the latest bargaining session, Harvard increased its economic offer, proposing an 11 percent increase in salaried student worker compensation over four years — up from its previous 10 percent offer — and expanded access to some benefits, including subsidized legal services. HGSU-UAW has demanded a 12 percent raise upon ratification, followed by 5 percent annual raises through the end of the contract.

In a Thursday email to Harvard undergraduates, the union urged students to ask their parents to write to the University in support of faster negotiations, pointing to approaching finals and grading deadlines.

“It’s your education that the University is using as a pawn in its union-busting game,” the union wrote.

—Staff writer Noah A. Ferris can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X @noahaferris.