A group of about 60 Stanford students and staff, led by members of the Stanford Labor Action Coalition, marched to University President John Hennessy’s front door last night to deliver a statement responding to a University report on workplace issues. The report was presented at a Town Hall meeting last night that Hennessy did not attend.

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Erica Simmons

Staff, students and faculty gathered last night to hear an independent committee's findings on University labor practices. Later, more than 60 activists marched to President Hennessy's home to demand action on the issue.

However, Hennessy was not at home when the marchers arrived, and the marchers dispersed after about a half an hour, chanting “We’ll be back” and leaving behind their statement at his doorstep.

No arrests were made, according to Stanford Police Chief Laura Wilson.

Wilson estimated that the marchers arrived at Hennessy’s home at around 9:15 p.m. Andrea Hennessy, the President’s wife, was home at the time but she refused to answer the door or the phone, according to Zev Kvitky, president of United Stanford Workers and operations engineer at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.

While the marchers huddled around Hennessy’s front walkway, Wilson and another officer stood at the doorway. At one point, Wilson told the group that Mrs. Hennessy was not feeling well.

“I know she’s not feeling well, but maybe now she’s in a situation where she can relate to them a bit,” said one female student in the group, referring to Stanford staff members.

Kvitky, along with junior Joseles De La Cruz, were chosen by the group to deliver the statement to Hennessy’s house, according to De La Cruz.

Kvitky said to the crowd that Andrea Hennessy did not want to take legal action against the marchers.

According to Wilson, the group was trespassing on private property and if it had continued chanting, neighbors would have had grounds to complain that they were disturbing the peace.

After the marchers left, Wilson told The Daily, “They want to be heard, and we don’t want to arrest people, and Mrs. Hennessy does not want to arrest people. I’m glad we were able to come to an agreement.”

Some students in the group wanted to have Hennessy contact her husband before they agreed to leave, but the group voted at around 9:45 to adjourn to a private “debriefing meeting.”

While debating whether to advocate leaving Hennessy’s house, Rebecca Pratt suggested to the marchers that the staff members who were present might find it hard to find the time to march again.

“It’s easy for us to get here because we live here, but a lot of these people, it’s not easy for them to leave their families and be here,” Pratt said.

However, a majority of the marchers voted to leave. One worker told the group in Spanish that he had to work the next morning at 5 a.m. and wanted to go home.

“We can still be aggressive, but there may be nothing more we can do tonight, right here and now,” junior Alayna Buckner told the group.

Wanda Alderman, who works in Ricker Dining, explained to The Daily why she participated in the event.

“The managers demand a code of conduct from us, so we demand the same from them,” Alderman said.

Alderman said a code of conduct for the managers would represent “core values, integrity, care, ownership and respect.”