On this day in 2001, 46 demonstrators at Harvard University, carrying sleeping bags, computers, and a week's supply of food, occupied Massachusetts Hall, refusing to budge until the school agreed to pay its workers a "living wage".

The protest was a culmination of years of activism at Harvard to try and get the richest university in the world to pay all of its workers a living wage.

The sit-in ended after 21 days (the longest in Harvard history) when Harvard President Neil L. Rudenstine announced the formation of a University-wide committee to investigate the "principles and policies" regarding low paid and contract university workers.

No non-unionized or non-management workers served on the committee, however, and the workers that did were outnumbered 3-1 by faculty and students.