HARVARD ELECTIONS: For Board of Overseers elections, we recommend: Salvo Arena, Nisha Kumar Behringer, Trey Grayson, Alfredo Gutiérrez Ortiz Mena, and Philip Harrison. For Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) Elected Director elections, we recommend: Mia Esther Alpert, James P. “Jimmy” Biblarz, Allison Charney Epstein, Medha Gargeya, David Lefer, and Jakob Haesler.
The shot clock for a graduate student strike at Harvard is now on: April 21, unless an agreement is reached first.
That deadline is tied to contract bargaining between Harvard and the Harvard Graduate Student Union-United Auto Workers (HGSU-UAW, or HGSU). Though the University and HGSU have been negotiating since March 2025, the union says that tentative agreements have been reached on just two of 26 contract articles under negotiation.
Harvard has been here before. HGSU held a roughly five-week strike during negotiations for its first contract in December 2019 through early January 2020, and later held a three-day strike during negotiations for its next contract in fall 2021, during the College’s Family Weekend.
Given the likelihood of some campus disruption, and that this isn’t wholly uncharted territory for the University, here’s a short FAQ on what the precedent looks like and what could come next.
Who is in HGSU, and what’s their role on campus?
HGSU-UAW represents ~3,900 student workers across 4,900 positions. That includes the Teaching Fellows (TFs) who lead sections, host office hours, and grad exams — especially at the College — and graduate Research Assistants (RAs) who support faculty research.
What are HGSU’s key bargaining issues?
Increased and standardized base pay for teaching & research. HGSU seeks a $55,000 base wage for both TFs and RAs, as it says that for a 10-month appointment, RAs are currently paid $40,830 while TFs are paid $26,300. It also seeks annual raises of 5% or matching inflation (whichever is higher) and a $25/hour minimum for hourly workers. Harvard’s March counterproposal would keep distinct TF and RA pay structures with current rates, apply a 2.75% increase upon ratification, and raise the minimum hourly rate to $21.50.
Expanded benefits funding. HGSU seeks to increase benefit-pool funding by $850,000 (to $3.6 million), saying it distributed $2.75 million last year from its benefits funds (for health, dental, childcare, and emergencies.) and that 2025 demand for reimbursements exceeded available HGSU’s funding from Harvard. In practice, that means the benefits pools weren’t large enough to cover all student workers’ eligible requests for benefits reimbursements that HGSU received. HGSU also says the benefit funds are currently closed pending a new contract.
Harassment and discrimination procedures. HGSU seeks more choice in what process a worker can use when arbitrating a harassment claim, as well as clearer harassment and bullying definitions written into the contract and stronger disability-related protections. Harvard’s counterproposal would generally keep these matters handled through existing University-wide policies and procedures (Title IX Sexual Harassment, Non-Discrimination, Disability Resource Grievance), except for claims tied to union activity or membership.
Non-citizen protections and union security. HGSU seeks to raise a non-citizen assistance fund from $30,000 to $225,000 and expand paid immigration leave from five to 10 business days; Harvard’s counter would keep both at current levels. HGSU is also seeking a “fair share” fee arrangement so all graduate students pay union dues regardless of whether they join HGSU; Harvard’s counterproposal would keep membership optional and collect dues only from workers who choose to join.
What could it look like if there’s a strike?
A strike is unlikely to shut down classes across Harvard altogether, and the “University expects that classes will continue to meet.” However, it could potentially disrupt end-of-term logistics like review sessions, exam proctoring, and grading, and bring teach-ins and picketing to different Harvard campuses.
During the 2019-20 strike, courses continued, but grading work that would normally fall to TFs was triaged by faculty in different ways. Economics 10a, with 601 students, shifted its final to exclusively multiple-choice to streamline grading. Ec10’s final exam continues to be multiple choice to this day.
Also in 2019, some courses and departments like History & Literature said they wouldn’t hire temporary replacements (a request of HGSU), and waited to complete grading after the strike ended. Other faculty paid non-striking graduate students at overtime rates to submit grades on time.
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) told faculty that normal grade deadlines wouldn’t be enforced during the strike, but that year, roughly 81% of College grades were submitted by January 2, versus 94% typically submitted by that date.
What’s Next?
HGSU’s bargaining deadline is 11:59 p.m. on April 20; absent an agreement, it says a strike would begin April 21.
In March, FAS Dean Hopi Hoekstra urged departments to “begin actively planning for the practical implications of a potential work stoppage,” while the College, Divinity School, Medical School, and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have also encouraged faculty to reach out to their academic relations and faculty affairs offices.
The University has indicated faculty may prioritize grades for students scheduled to graduate (since they need finalized grades to do so) and in the case of a long strike, place remaining students in a grading “queue” for when TFs return.
Ask 1636
Send us your Harvard and higher education questions!
Q: What’s going on with Harvard’s different federal lawsuits?
Harvard is currently involved in four major lawsuits against the federal government.
Two cases are in the First Circuit (on appeal) from last spring:
International student visa suit: Harvard sued after the government moved to revoke the University’s ability to host international students. Initial appeals briefing has been filed, but oral argument has not yet been scheduled.
Two newer cases filed by the DOJ are in federal district court:
Events
Cambridge, MA — April 21 from 5:30-7:00 pm ET: Harvard Graduate School of Education is hosting Harvard Law professor and retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer (LLB ‘64) for a conversation on civic education and how the law shapes education, including where its reach ends. Register here.
New York, NY — April 30 from 7:00-9:00 pm ET: Meet HKS Dean Jeremy Weinstein at this HKS on the Road series event. Register here.
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FYIs
In Rare Public Interview, President Garber Addresses Gay Hearing, Reflects on Campus Antisemitism and University Autonomy
In a public interview at the 92nd Street Y in New York on April 13, Harvard President Alan Garber (AB ’76, PhD ’82) discussed, among other items, campus antisemitism and the broader stakes of Harvard’s ongoing conflict with the federal government.
Garber said Harvard has “real issues” to address on antisemitism and described himself as “disappointed” by what he called student ignorance on “all sides” of the issue and pressure to take sides. He also said “a great deal of what was identified as antisemitism [on campus] was actually mistreatment of Israelis,” which he called “insidious and maybe more corrosive of University life.” He said he had expected progress to take three to five years but believes Harvard “saw progress within a year.”
On Claudine Gay’s 2023 congressional testimony, Garber suggested her answer was responsive to a narrow question about whether speech violated University policies — asserting that universities often think in First Amendment-style terms about what speech is punishable even when it is “reprehensible” — but said the exchange failed to provide the moral condemnation many people expected. He added that “many people, having benefit of hindsight, would have said something that might not have been literally true, but was emotionally true and that is that it is completely unacceptable to say anything that seems to call for genocide.”
On international students and competition with China, Garber said America’s edge has long come from attracting global talent, and warned that restricting or destabilizing that pipeline risks U.S. innovation and the University’s research output.
On admissions after Students for Fair Admissions, Garber said Harvard will follow the law while still seeking the educational value of a student body drawn from varied backgrounds because expanding opportunity helps Harvard draw from the broadest pool of top talent.
Garber said that conceding on matters of principle in its ongoing conflict with the federal government would make it harder for universities to fulfill their academic missions — and that the precedent could extend well beyond Harvard.
FAS Withholds FY25 Financial Report, Draft Version Leaked
The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) has not publicly released its FY25 annual financial report — typically published each fall — breaking a practice The Crimson says FAS had held for nearly two decades.
The Crimson published a draft version it obtained showing $1.78 billion in revenue and $1.79 billion in expenses in FY25, amounting to a $7.7 million deficit. FAS had a $2.9 million surplus the prior year.
Harvard Union of Technical and Clerical Workers (HUCTW), which reached a one-year agreement with the University this week, has criticized FAS’s lack of transparency as it plans for layoffs and undertakes budget reductions amid the longstanding $350 million structural budget deficit it announced in the fall. In a message to members, union leaders wrote there was “no way to verify” administrators’ “vague assertions about the school’s finances” without the report and called for “real transparency.”
In 2024, before any of the recent federal actions against the University, Harvard economics professors Jeremy Stein and John Campbell published a paper estimating FAS had a $327 million annual structural deficit, with a present value of $6.54 billion.
Harvard Seeks $10 Million Gifts for New Endowed Professorships Tied to Viewpoint Diversity
According to The Crimson, Harvard is fundraising for $10 million gifts to endow new professorships tied to a University-wide effort to promote viewpoint diversity, with the initiative being spearheaded by Provost John Manning (AB ’82, JD ‘85).
Last summer, The Wall Street Journal reported Harvard was considering fundraising for a nonpartisan center to promote viewpoint diversity. The Crimson now reports Harvard is pursuing a different model: endowing professorships appointed at the University level and then placed across schools and departments. Harvard has reportedly discussed recruiting roughly 20-30 faculty connected to the initiative.
The effort comes amid years of faculty surveys indicating that few identify as somewhat to very conservative (10% in 2025).
In recent weeks, Harvard Corporation Senior Fellow Penny Pritzker (AB ’81) has also said that the University is “recommitting” to open inquiry and constructive dialogue, something President Garber has repeatedly called for.
In response to the news, some faculty have expressed “cautious concern,” delineating between the merits of broadening departments’ intellectual range and hiring for their partisan identity. English professor Stephanie Burt (AB ‘94) explained, “If Harvard is setting out to hire people who always vote Republican or support Trump, I think that’s a mistake,” but hiring people who “might describe themselves as philosophically conservative” or “people doing high quality, intellectually robust work that is not represented here” would be welcome.
University Professor Noah Feldman Questions HJAA Report’s Findings On Declining Jewish Enrollment Data; HJAA Responds
In an interview with The Chronicle of Higher Education, University Professor Noah Feldman (AB ’92) questioned the validity of the Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance (HJAA)’s recent findings on Jewish enrollment at Harvard, citing data limitations and gaps in the report’s analysis. Feldman founded and directs the Jewish and Israeli Law Program at HLS.
Last month, HJAA released its report documenting a steep decline in Jewish undergraduate enrollment at Harvard (steeper than many Ivy peers), while emphasizing that the available data can’t yet explain why.
Feldman argued the report doesn’t “take seriously” the rise of “upwardly aspiring” South and East Asian American applicants from immigrant families in high-performing suburban public schools — a demographic profile he says was once more heavily represented among Jewish Americans.
He suggested that shift, alongside the sharp rise in South and East Asian American enrollment at Harvard during the same period as the decline in Jewish enrollment, points to a potential demographic “substitution effect,” not antisemitic intent.
In response to Feldman’s comments, HJAA President Adrian Ashkenazy (AB ’96) defended the report’s methodology, writing that it shows a “sudden, steep, and sustained” drop in Jewish self-identification in the Class of 2020 — a drop-off that gradual shifts in demographic trends can’t explain.
Yale Report Calls for Grading, Admissions, and Classroom Reforms To Rebuild Trust
This week, Yale’s Committee on Trust in Higher Education released a report examining the drivers of declining trust in higher education. Convened by Yale President Maurie McInnis in April 2025, the Committee was composed of faculty across Yale College and its five professional schools. Dartmouth President Sian Beilock praised the report on LinkedIn: “Yale’s report this week is an encouraging sign for higher education.”
The report cites several factors behind eroding trust, including: rising tuition costs; an opaque admissions system; concerns about campus speech culture, including self-censorship, fear of social and professional retaliation, and perceptions of political bias in what’s said and taught; and challenges such as grade inflation, bureaucratic expansion, technology-driven classroom distraction, and AI.
On academics and the classroom, the committee recommends (among other steps) adopting a college-wide grading norm such as a 3.0 mean and adding course percentiles to transcripts; making device-free classrooms the default; and launching a civic education initiative that would reach every first-year Yale College student (Yale College doesn’t have a General Education program).
On governance and more public-facing reforms, the report recommends a review and streamlining of Yale’s administrative structure “measured against the academic mission,” and changes to admissions that include establishing a public minimum academic standard for consideration and reducing preferences for admissions categories like varsity athletes, legacies, and children of faculty, staff, and donors.
The report’s grading recommendations come as Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis said in February that Yale is looking closely at Harvard’s efforts to address grade inflation, and he expects to share recommendations with faculty “within a year or so.” This week, Lewis said President McInnis has “urged the 2026-27 Yale College Committee on Teaching, Learning, and Advising to explore grading issues in Yale College,” and he would “charge it to do so.”
More News
More News at Harvard
The Crimson: “Faculty Group Pushes Top Administrators To Reform Faculty Investigations”
The Crimson: “For Decades, FAS Published an Annual Financial Report. This Year, It Did Not.”
The Crimson: “Harvard Plans to Increase Introductory Writing Course Sizes, Drawing Union Objections”
The Crimson: “Deming Encourages AI Literacy, But Warns Against Overreliance in Ec 50 Talk”
The Crimson: “One Year After Settlement, Harvard Has Not Released Required Antisemitism Report”
The Crimson: “College Investigating Complaint Against Harvard Republican Club Over Post on Islamic Society Eid Event”
The Crimson: “CAIR Engaged Harvard in Back-and-Forth Over Adoption of IHRA Definition of Antisemitism”
The Crimson: “Harvard Management Company Opens San Francisco Office Amid Shift Toward Tech Investments”
The Crimson: “HGSE Pauses Ed.L.D. Admissions for 2026-27 Academic Year Amid Program Redesign”
The Crimson: “Harvard Forum Highlights Rural Student Voices, Expands Advocacy Efforts”
The Crimson: “HUCTW Reaches One-Year Deal With Harvard, Securing $2,300 Raises”
Bloomberg: “Harvard’s Kreiman Seeks $100 Million to Build AI Memory Tech” — feat. former HMS professor Gabriel Kreiman and Spandan Madan (PhD ‘25)
The Free Press: “Grade Inflation Won’t Make You Happy” — by HKS professor of the practice Arthur Brooks
The Crimson: “Conservative Judges’ Early Hiring Fuels Two-Track Clerkship System at Harvard Law”
Washington Post: “Harvard’s grade inflation experiment” — editorial by the Washington Post Editorial Board
The Crimson: “A Schism in the Harvard Right” — op-ed by Andrew Shlomchik (AB ’29)
The Crimson: “Change Harvard’s Bottom Line” — op-ed by Harvard English and Theater, Dance, Media professor Derek Miller
The Crimson: “Letter Grades Cannot Be Our Only Marker of Distinction” — op-ed by Olivia Nelson (AB ’29)
The Crimson: “Why We’re Voting Yes in Our Strike Authorization Vote” — op-ed by History and Literature lecturers Nicholas Bloom, Chloe Hawkey, and Emmet von Stackelberg (AB ‘14)
Boston Herald: “Harvard must turn accountability into action” — op-ed by Kenneth Marcus, founder of the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law
More News Beyond Harvard
Brown Daily Herald: “20 years of Brown admissions, by the numbers”
Yale Daily News: “Silicon Valley trip left McInnis bullish on Yale’s value in AI future”
Yale Daily News: “Trustees’ political tilts scrutinized by Yalies on left and right”
Higher Ed Dive: “Donations to colleges hold steady amid higher ed disruption”
The Banner: “Asian enrollment at Johns Hopkins is exploding. No one can say why.”
New York Times: “What the New Loan Caps Will Mean for Grad Students This Fall”
Wall Street Journal: “Why Everyone Hates the Ivy League”
Inside Higher Ed: “A “Legal Movement” Against Campus Antisemitism” — feat. conference held at Harvard as part of the University’s settlement with the Brandeis Center and Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education over campus antisemitism
Jewish Telegraphic Agency: “At Harvard antisemitism conference, Trump official defends ‘list of Jews’ legal strategy in Penn case”
Jewish News Syndicate: “Seven Jewish professors, staff look to join Justice Dept. lawsuit alleging Jew-hatred at UCLA”
The Argument: “Who are America's biggest antisemites?”
University of Florida: “Disagree Better: Civil Conversations in Divided Times” — conversation between former U.S. Rep. Ric Keller (MRPL ‘26) and Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education professor Paul Lim
New York Times: “Hampshire College Will Close Amid Student Enrollment Declines”
Wall Street Journal: “How the ABA Spreads DEI in Law Schools” — editorial by the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board
Wall Street Journal: “Make Economics a College Requirement” — op-ed by Samuel Abrams (PhD ‘10)
Abundance of Growth: “US science agencies have money; can they spend it?” — by Coefficient Giving grantmaker Jordan Dworkin
Chronicle of Higher Education: “Colleges Have Forgotten How to Argue” — by Eboo Patel, founder of Interfaith America