My name is JC, and I’m a Preceptor in Chinese in the department of east Asian languages and civilizations. The motivation for me to get involved in this union 5 years ago was simple: to have a more stable job, as we all deserve, and to live a fuller, more dignified life. By “dignified” I mean, not having to feel we are less because our employer treats us as disposable, dignified in the sense that none of our teaching assistants colleagues will have to tell their inflamed teeth to “hush” because they don’t have dental insurance, dignified in the sense that when we reach retirement age, we don’t need to worry that we have nothing to fall back on because not all of us have retirement benefits, dignified in the sense that international workers do not need to silently suffer from exploitation, blackmailing, or even workplace grooming, simply because we are on a visa and can be taken advantage of without the protection of a contract. The list can go on.    We have had to fight our hardest because our university has shown zero interest in providing stability nor dignity to non-tenure-track teachers like us. Each year, international teachers who time out have to self-deport, like my colleagues and I will have to do in 7 weeks.  Scholars who have devoted their whole lives in academic pursuits will have to leave academia for good. It is life-changing for all of us. Many of our colleagues who timed out in past years are still unemployed, or have left academia permanently. 

I believe that people in this room today— my colleagues who stand here beside me and our colleagues at the other end of the bargaining table—are aware of the damage to education done by the austerity measures that Harvard is choosing to employ, even though its endowment and donations are both record high. On top of the time-caps policy and hiring freeze, we are also going to see a 25% budget cut in the coming semester for non-tenure-track teachers. Many programs will be devastated. My own Chinese program will lose 5 specialized courses. Students who aspire to become China experts to help make the world a more peaceful place will simply have very few advanced classes to take. I also heard that Persian will not have a full-time preceptor next semester, with the war going on.  I am deeply baffled by what role Harvard wants to play in this already very dangerous world.  Harvard boasts of nurturing experts in every field who work for the common good—but are we really doing that? As a world-leading institution, are we in fact contributing to greater stability in the world and make it a better place? 

I am aware that none of us in this room right now has the power to make a final call on significant decisions, and you MAY think that what you are helping to make a reality for some teachers here is nothing serious. But nothing is insignificant. All peer institutions, including universities and schools across the world, have always been watching what Harvard offers to education and how things are done here. All the measures taken here are going to have ripple effects in the world. One more day that we stay complicit in allowing this university to fire its experienced teachers and replace them with chatbots, the stronger the dangerous signal we are sending beyond the walls of Harvard yard. One more day we are de-prioritizing education, the stronger we are sending the message to the world: even the most prestigious university does not care about education—so what will the rest of the world become?  I invite all of us here to think what kind of world we want to live in ourselves, as well as for our kids and even grandkids. What kind of impact do we want to make? And finally, which side are we on? 

And lastly, my dear fellow colleagues, I want to say to you, life is not worth living if we let ourselves succumb to fear. I hereby urge all of you to carry on the fight.    Thank you.