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

The Crimson ^ | 5/10/26 | Noah A. Ferris

[Libloather]

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.

[Honorary Serb]

The latest on the stupid Harvard grad student strike:

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu (Harvard College 2007, HLS 2012) Withdraws as Harvard Law School Class Day Speaker After Union Urges Her Not to Cross Picket Line

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/5/27/wu-drops-out-hls-class-day/

Wu and “the picket line” allegedly tried to find a compromise by which Wu could speak, but it was all to no avail.

Neither the striking grad students nor Wu have been displaying Harvard intelligence and/or ingenuity. Shame, shame!

[Honorary Serb]

Here’s the big Commencement Day “Crimson” article on the still continuing Harvard graduate assistant/United Auto Workers strike:

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/5/28/hgsu-strike-end-of-semester/

The strikers don’t care if they are disrupting Harvard seniors’ plans for graduation, law/medical/graduate school admissions, jobs, etc., or even a nice summer!

The strikers are completely thoughtless, stupid, and unworthy of Harvard. Shame, shame!

[cgbg]

The union works on an assembly line—producing Unicorn excrement.

Lol.

[Honorary Serb]

Here’s the Commencement edition of this disgraceful strike, courtesy of The Crimson:

.......Graduate Student Union Picketers Demonstrate Outside Harvard Yard
By Sebastian B. Connolly and Summer E. Rose, Crimson Staff Writers

As graduates and guests lined up outside Harvard Yard before the start of Commencement exercises, roughly 20 Harvard Graduate Student Union-United Auto Workers picketers gathered near Widener and Boylston gates, chatting, holding signs, beating a plastic bucket drum, and handing our fliers and pins urging affiliates to email Harvard administrators in support of the union’s contract demands.

The picket did not block students from entering the Yard. As members of the class of 2026 processed through Boylston Gate, union members continued chanting.

“We’re proud of you and that’s a fact,” they chanted, “but we still need a fair contract.”

After the undergraduate processing entered the Yard, approximately 30 union members continued moving between Yard entrances as graduate processing continued.

The moderation (sic!) marked the latest action in HGSU’s Commencement week strike, including pickets outside Harvard College Class Day events Wednesday and a disruption of a Baccalaureate reception Tuesday.......

Shame, shame! At least there were only 20 (or 30?) of them.

The strikers should have been proud enough of the new degree recipients (especially the Ph.Ds) to shut up about the strike! After all, they presumably are working toward receiving their own degrees in several years. I hope so, anyway.