My Speech at the Rally Against Layoffs Feb. 9, 2012

Thank you for joining us and helping us shape the world you will inherit: A world where the workers who have helped make Harvard great will be treated as valued partners and collaborators
instead of as a financial burden to be discarded in the new world order.

The library reorganization as it has been announced has set up competing goals for the staff: where we must continue to work toward forwarding the university's goals while struggling for our own survival under the threat of layoff. We are strongly advised to take 3 hour workshops for
skills assessment and resume writing, and at the same time keep up with our workloads, which have increased substantially since the last layoff in 2009. We continue helping researchers in the library, preparing for Open House, and helping plan the reorganization not knowing whether or not we individually will be part of the new vision.

This announcement has pushed us way down on Maslow's hierarchy of needs from self-actualization for many of us to safety. The question has changed from "will I ever achieve my full potential?" to "will I be able to pay the mortgage next month? my medical bills?
send my children to college, pay my student loans? Will I be able to take care of my parents, put food on the table, or have a moment of peace free from worry?

The wealthiest university in the Ivy leagues should not be cutting corners at the expense of its hard working dedicated employees to create a modern library. We have the skill, knowledge and ability and vision to help create a new and better library that works for everyone: The students, the faculty, and the workers.

As Martin Luther King said,

"I dream of a land where men will not take necessities away from the many to give luxuries to the few."

Thank you.