Harvard University is 375 years young. Certainly the oldest university in America and arguably the most famous. Monday night we were welcomed at a dinner at the Sheraton Commander Hotel - so named because George Washington took command of the continental army right across the street. Harvard's like that - a story in every cobblestone on the road. Two great things happened at dinner: 1) we were greeted warmly by enthusiastic alumni of the HTUP program; and 2) Professor Paul Weiler, Faculty Director Emeritus of Harvard Law School, provided the evening's keynote remarks. It was a great beginning. Did I mention the fact that the amazing and vigourous Dr. Elaine Bernard, Executive Director of HTUP since the late 1980s, is a Canadian?
There are 35 of us labour leaders in the Class of 2012, 24 from the USA and 11 international participants from Canada, UK, Australia and Vietnam. I was a bit intimidated to learn that our workload in the six week period is greater than a full-time student doing an entire term! Classes run from 9 to 5 daily with a heavy reading assignment every night. (I've become a night owl already.) It's an amazingly diverse, articulate, experienced and passionate group. The quality of the classroom conversation is everything I dreamed it would be. Do I have time to read one more chapter? Sure I do - I'm at Harvard.
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