APPEAL TO HARVARD FOR SCRUBWOMEN:
In an open letter sent to Harvard University's Governing Boards, fifty-two alumni criticized the university for its dismissal of twenty scrubwomen from Widener Library in late 1929, urging the institution to compensate these workers with "back wages" of approximately $280 each. The alumni argued that the university's actions were "harsh, stingy, socially insensitive, and considerably short of the highest ethical standards of the time," and emphasized that the scrubwomen were paid below the Massachusetts Minimum Wage Commission's standard of 37 cents per hour. Despite Harvard’s representatives' arguments to the commission that the women’s wages were justified, the alumni maintained that the university's policies damaged its reputation and called for an investigation into its treatment of other manual workers.Files
| Publisher |
The New York Times
|
|---|---|
| Date |
1930-03-17
|
| Tags | Administrative Response, Advocacy, National Media |
|---|---|
| Date Added | July 20, 2024 |
| Date Modifed | July 20, 2024 |
| Collection | Harvard and Gender Discrimination |