Emerson Hall Picketing - October 2026

Dear HGSU-UAW Leadership Team,

We write regarding the picket outside Emerson Hall on Thursday, October 29, 2026, from approximately 10:00am to 12:00pm. We understand that several HGSU-UAW picketers gathered on the Quincy Street side of Emerson Hall, which is an academic building. They used noise amplification, including a megaphone, airhorns, and a siren, during their two-hour picket. They began the picket immediately below the window of a classroom where a previously scheduled exam for a course of 250 undergraduate students was in progress. When HUPD advised the picketers to relocate, they moved only approximately 10 feet from the window. Cambridge Police arrived, and the picketers dispersed.

It is our understanding that HGSU-UAW planned this picket location and directed excessive noise towards this specific classroom, which disrupted the administration of the exam. It is also our understanding that the course was targeted by HGSU-UAW because multiple TFs exercised their protected right under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act to decline to participate in strike activity. We have been advised that the union had planned chants to call out the names of these TFs and call them "scabs."

Thursday's activity outside Emerson Hall is in direct conflict with multiple University policies, including the University-wide Statement on Rights and Responsibilities (USRR) and the Anti-Bullying Policy. We hope the picket on Thursday was an isolated incident that was not sanctioned by union leadership. To ensure that the rights of our teachers and students are protected in accordance with University policy, please share this message with your members and remind them that as student workers at Harvard they must comply with University policies, even during a strike action.

Since its adoption in 1970, the University-wide Statement on Rights and Responsibilities (USRR) has outlined our collective responsibility to uphold the values of the institution, noting the "central functions of an academic community are learning, teaching, research and scholarship." Consistent with the USRR, the University will protect our community members' rights to "publicly demonstrate and picket in orderly fashion" while also protecting the central functions of teaching, research, and scholarship. Our teachers have a right to teach our students, and our students have a right to learn. The USRR makes clear that "[i]nterference with members of the University in performance of their normal duties and activities must be regarded as unacceptable obstruction of the essential processes of the University."

In violation of University policy, the picket activity on Thursday outside Emerson Hall interfered with students’ and employees' rights and obstructed community members from performing their normal duties and activities. This serves as notice that student workers who exercise their right to strike in a manner that violates University policy will be subject to employment disciplinary action.

Thank you for ensuring that the union will conduct all picket activity in accordance with University policies. If you have any questions regarding the relevant policies and expectations for picket activity moving forward, please let us know. 

Sincerely,

Paul Curran

Managing Director,

Office of Labor and Employee Relations