Silence in the Pulpit

To the editors:

As a supporter of the living wage campaign yet interested in all points of view, especially as they appear in print in The Crimson and elsewhere (News, “University Ministry Urges Discussion,” April 24), I have been disappointed by one striking omission: the silence of one who should be the leading moral and pastoral voice on campus, that of Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in Memorial Church Reverend Peter J. Gomes.

For nearly two years I have listened on the radio to Rev. Gomes’s sermons each Sunday at Memorial Church and have often admired them. In the last month he has not spoken on this subject from his pulpit, I believe; nor has he expressed his views in The Crimson, except for a brief visit to the protesters to deliver his greetings and a call for a peaceful resolution on April 23.

The sit-in is now over, yet the issue of the living wage goes on. Also, there is the question of disciplining students, and this too seems something worth addressing by the senior minister on campus. Like others I hope to hear the Reverend’s views soon, perhaps in these pages.

Eric Weinberger

May 9, 2001

The writer is a preceptor in the Expository Writing Program.

Committed to Justice

To the editors:

As the rest of the college labor movement applauds the PSLM’s protest, it seems that Harvard’s community hasn’t given its full support to a living wage (News, “After 21 Days, Protesters Leave Mass. Hall,” May 9).

We all know that the University boasts a $19 billion endowment—more than the gross national product of some countries. The living wage in Cambridge is $10.25 per hour. Harvard can more than afford this, and the idea that it took a 21-day protest for the University to even consider a living wage is absurd.

In a time of economic prosperity, Harvard should be the first to understand that all Americans have yet to see their piece of the nation’s growing wealth. This is caused by legislation that weakens union bargaining rights, wage standards, etc. In order to ensure that all Americans can share the wealth that they have worked so hard to achieve, we must make sure that workers are paid a wage that enables them to feed and clothe their families.

Ignoring this problem is inhumane, and frankly, un-American. It doesn’t take a college education to understand this, but apparently, the nation’s most important and famous institution of higher education missed the point.