Overview
- The event at Sanders Theater was halted when a fire alarm was pulled after three audience questions and attendees were evacuated while organizers escorted Stephen Colbert from the stage.
- Striking members of the Harvard Graduate Student Union were picketing outside and chanting before the alarm, and witnesses said their noise made it hard to hear the speakers.
- The union issued a statement denying any role in triggering the alarm and said its picketers had no knowledge of the cause.
- The Cambridge Fire Department investigated, reported no explained cause for the activation, and said Harvard staff checked and reset the alarm system before the scene was cleared.
- The disruption happened during the union’s second strike of the year and leaves key bargaining issues on pay, benefits, protections for noncitizen workers, and independent harassment probes unresolved while campus events remain vulnerable to protest-driven interruptions.