I was asked to comment here about the graduate student strike at Harvard. I’ve been commenting about it incessantly on X, and I’m kind of tired of the subject. The main takeaway is that the idea of organized labor has been perverted to the extent that it is almost embarrassing. First, the union at my university negotiates several of its members out of jobs and a drop in salary for many. Then the rich spoiled brats at Harvard become the mascot for labor rights.
For people who don’t know, graduate students at Harvard get:
– a full-tuition waiver
– a stipend of $51,000 for 9 months
– almost unavoidably paid summer jobs and research assistantships in addition to the $51K
– excellent free health insurance
– student housing that costs between $9,000 and $10,000 a year
These graduate students believe that they are heavily exploited proletarians who “make the university run” and who have experienced terrible hardship in the form of “having to budget” their fancy trips. (I’m using direct quotes from their argument in defense of their oppressed status.) They have gone on strike, but it’s not a real strike because, of course, the university keeps paying them for the jobs these spoiled brats do not do.
These are ridiculous people, and the whole situation is stupid. Why do we care about them? They think we’re plebs and despise us, and honestly, if we continue taking them seriously, they might be right.
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