HIGHER EDUCATION The Michigan Daily -- Thursday, March 11, 1999 - 9A Schools look to 'U' for anti-sweatshop leadership By Michael Grass Daily Staff Reporter As University administrators and student activists negoti- ate a stronger set of labor standards in the collegiate apparel industry, the activists' counterparts on other campuses have ade what they hope are great strides to improve sweatshop ' nditions in factories. The Collegiate Licensing Company - the group which handles contracts between manufacturers and 161 colleges, including the University - is proposing a code calling for improved working conditions and unfair labor practices. But student activists have said the CLC's proposed code lacks two important stipulations: Full public disclosure: Complete manufacturing infor- mation on locations of factories and their ownership, so human rights organizations can visit and inspect conditions. The living wage: Factoring local living conditions into a dorker's salary with intentions to improve the quality of life r laborers. The University's Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality members said they have found that labor- ers produce University merchandise in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico and Bangladesh - nations where sweatshop labor and substandard conditions exist. According to a SOLE publication, workers in a particular factory in the Dominican Republic produce more than 14 million baseball caps per year, including caps bearing the ichigan logo. Those workers are paid 69 cents per hour, which a study from the Dominican Republic Central Bank said is one-third of the cost necessary to cover a family's basic needs. SOLE members said those laborers work a 56-hour work week, which is illegal under Dominican law. SOLE members also said wage discrimination against women, unsafe drink- ing water, sexual harassment and physical abuse are present in the factory. Labor activists feel that manufacturers could help improve their employees' living conditions by honoring a living wage. "Students feel that a living wage is a human right," said Harvard University student and activist Dan Hennefeld. SOLE member Mara Luna, an LSA junior traveled with a group of students from the Cleveland area to El Salvador last summer and met with a group of garment workers. At a Feb. 19 meeting between SOLE and University President Lee Bollinger, Luna told Bollinger that the workers told her the best way to help improve conditions in sweat- shops is to apply pressure on the corporate level. "They really rely on us to help," Luna said. "We have a lot more strength." Luna said the workers, whose gated and guarded factory was surrounded with barbed wire, produced clothing for JC Penny, GAP and Liz Claiborne. In order for conditions to improve in factories, "pressure needs to be applied on the corporations,' Hennefeld said. Students across the nation take action for a stronger code Protests at campuses across the nation, including three sit- down demonstrations at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Georgetown University and Duke University have brought great media attention to the issue of sweatshop labor in the collegiate apparel industry. "Corporations are especially vulnerable because they are very conscious of their public image," Hennefeld said. Harvard President Neil Rudenstine promised full public disclosure after 400 students protested outside a full faculty meeting yesterday, Hennefeld said. Hennefeld and a group of students from other Ivy League schools sent letters to Ivy presidents demanding action on the issue. Though pleased with the announcement of full public dis- closure at Harvard, Hennefeld said in regards to the living wage, "it's been frustrating because our administration told us here at Harvard that they agreed with us, but now they've gone back on that." During a January sit-in at the office of Duke President Nan Keohane, administrators agreed to meet the demands of stu- dent activists on the Duke campus, agreeing that within one year, Duke will have public disclosure. Duke student Tico Almeida, a sit-in organizer, said some licensed manufacturers may not want to do business with Duke in the future because of the disclosure requirement. "If a few companies have something to hide, others may jump in" and sign contracts with Duke, Almeida said. During the Duke sit-in, student activists only demanded full public disclosure. Almeida said at the time of the sit-in, their worst fear was that Duke and other schools were going to be scared off with calls for the living wage and sign the weak CLC code. "We thought that we had to put public disclosure as num- ber one," Almeida said, adding that now that "a number of schools have achieved that, we are now looking more closely at the living wage." Along with Harvard, Duke, Georgetown and Wisconsin, Cornell University and Brown University also have achieved full public disclosure. Wisconsin Chancellor David Ward also has agreed to sup- port a call for a living wage. Sweatshop activists await what happens at the University For the 1997-98 fiscal year, licensed merchandise bearing the Michigan logo generated about $5.7 million, the highest reported amount of any college in the nation, University spokesperson Julie Peterson said. To manufacturers "Michigan is very important because it has major financial clout," Hennefeld said. "The students at Michigan are among the leaders in the movement," said Ginny Couglin, director of education and mobilization for Union of Needletrades, Industries and Textiles Employees. Couglin added that if a number of schools, including the University, achieve public disclosure, other schools may fol- low suit forcing manufacturers to release information and improve conditions in their factories. "Michigan is an important school as a trendsetter" Couglin said, "Companies will be under greater pressure" to improve wages and conditions in their factories. SOLE members plan to continue their negotiations with the University today and are scheduled to hold a rally on the Diag tomorrow at 1 p.m. They said yesterday that they hope they can come to an agreement with administrators that satis- fies both of their needs. Mass. students, faculty protest race practices Mr. Bollinger goes to Lansing Harvard scientists locate giant fault Lenny Holston "EndLaura Forster Massachusetts Daily Collegian AMHERST, Mass. - In the second protest of the semester, University of Massachusetts students came together with faculty, five college members and civil rights leader Anne Braden to make themselves heard last Wednesday after- noon. Protesting against the recent iversity decision not to prioritize race in admissions policy, the protest organized by the Black Student Union took place in its traditional starting point - on the steps of the Student Union. .An enthusiastic crowd of about 500 students were in attendance at the protest. One of the most prominent speakers was Ann Braden, a 74-year- old civil rights activist. Braden is from 6 .Louisville, Ky. chapter of the outhern Organizing Committee for Education and Social Justice. "People are overwhelmed and do not know what to do," Braden said. She sug- gests that whites make themselves visible as an important first step. "The U.S. moves forward only when the young peo- ple move forward." Braden also said "many whites don't ant to think about race and want to B'eep things under the rug.' She attacked giving admissions on the basis of income saying it "will pit poor whites against blacks. (You) can't sepa- rate class and race, because they have been joined since the first slave ships arrived. When blacks get rights, so do poor whites." Braden cited Pell grants and other programs, which African- Americans initiated, as evidence. Braden's predicts that if the universi- ty does not reverse its decision then "in a few years they (UMass administra- tion) will be cutting out everyone but the elites." John Bracey, professor of Afro- American studies, begged the adminis- tration for a moratorium on a decision he called "the most mean-spirited, backward thing they have ever done." Bracey has been an active faculty member in reversing the university's decision and recently wrote a letter to Chancellor David Scott on the matter. Bracey's proposal for the chancellor is to call on individuals specialized on the matters to come up with other solu- tions. Bracey urged students to use pres- sure to make themselves heard if neces- sary: "We'll tell them there's a hurri- cane out of Amherst!" Billye Smith, a sophomore Afro- American studies major at Amherst College and member of the college's Black Culture House and Black Women's Group, gave the oft-cited depiction of the Five College system as the characters from "Scooby Doo." Discovery uncovers fault under downtown Los Angeles By Valere De Charette Harvard Crimson CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - A giant fault hidden beneath downtown Los Angeles could cause highly destructive earthquakes, according to a recent dis- covery by one Harvard researcher and a colleague from California. Assistant structural and economic geology Prof. John Shaw and Peter Shearer, a professor at the University of California at San Diego, published their findings about the fault in last Friday's issue of Science magazine. The fault, which is composed of three segments, is about 25 miles in the east- west direction and 10 miles in the north- south direction, Shaw said. Each of the segments is comparable in size to an adjacent fault in Northridge, Calif., that caused a major earthquake in 1994, he said. Shaw said if any one of the three seg- ments does cause an earthquake, it could be as destructive as the Northridge earth- quake - which had a magnitude of 6.7, killed 33 people and caused $35 billion in damages, according to an article in The New York Times on March 5. If all three segments were to rupture simultaneously, an earthquake about three times as violent as the Northridge disaster could occur, Shaw said. Researchers already suspected the fault's existence, but it was not con- firmed until oil companies drilling in the Los Angeles basin provided evi- dence, he said. It is not known when the fault might cause an earthquake, Shaw said. Scientists still need to find out when the stress began and whether it has been relieved by a past temblor, he said. Shearer said they are still investigat- ing the exact location and size of the fault because there is a possibility that it is connected with others to the east and west and possibly to another south of Los Angeles. Finding connections between faults is difficult because the links may be too deep for seismic tests, he added. The discovery will be important in helping scientists predict approximately when the next earthquake will be and in preparing the city for a possible disaster. Harvard geology Prof. Paul Hoffman said Shaw is currently working with Harvard geophysics Prof. Jeroen Tromp to construct a computer model of the rock around the Los Angeles basin. University President Lee Bollinger speaks yesterday before the state Legislature in Lansing about appropriations for the University. Texas student board votes no to sex clause By Loretta Panichi 'he Daily University Star SAN MARCOS, Texas - Southwest Texas State University Associated *udent Government's legislation proposing an addition to the anti-discrim- ination clause to include sexual orienta- tion, was shot down with a 5 to 7 vote at the Student Advisory Board meeting Tuesday. The legislation, aimed at protecting students and faculty from sexual discrim- ination based on sexual orientation, was passed in the SWT Faculty Senate and trduced to ASG's senate last semester. Mier much debate, it was passed in both ASG and Staff Senate. The next step was to discuss it with the Student Advisory Board, made up of two representatives from all schools within the Texas State University System, before finally taking the proposed legislation to the Texas State University System Board of Regents, said ASG President and psy- chology senior Anne-Marie Laustsen. At the board meeting, SWT and &mar University-Beaumont offered our votes in favor of the bill. Sam Houston, San Angelo and Lamar University Institute of Technology in Beaumont offered six opposing votes. Lamar University-Orange, Sul Ross State University in Alpine and Sul Ross State University Rio Grande College in Uvalde were not present. Lamar University-Orange did not attend because they are reassessing their student government after their president quit. "We're kind of back off in the woods as far as the legislation goes," said Sam Ambers, student government representa- tive for Lamar University-Orange. Lamar University-Port Arthur was split: one vote opposing, one vote in favor. The opposing votes killed the bill. "We were very disappointed," Laustsen said. "We didn't even get a chance to take this to the Board of Regents." Student government members against the bill offered their reasons. "I had to vote against this because the people at SWT did not have enough evidence to fully warrant the Board of Regents to look at this bill," said Gerald Napoles, Sam Houston student senator. "We wanted specific examples and more details." Laustsen said ASG's argument was that if someone is not guaranteed protec- tion and no legal action can be taken, then why would they bother reporting the incident? Napoles said those who have been dis- criminated against should take the first step. "I believe that it does happen and the first step in making a change is making a stand for yourself," Napoles said. "I think this is a wonderful issue, but at this time it wasn't fully developed. With a big issue like this we need 100 percent back-up. I saw a lot of commitment and support at SWT, and I think even more people need to stick up for this. They need to provide some kind of data, not just hearsay. The bill needed more polishing." Theresa Wallace, Lamar University- Port Arthur's student government presi- dent, agreed with Napoles. "We were split, and I was the one that voted no;' Wallace said. "It is a very important issue, and the bill needed more time to get together." Student vote: What: Student Advisory Board for Texas State University System votes 5 to 7 against including sexua orientation in anti-discrimination clause. When: Board shot down roposed change Tuesday. Why: Representatives offered mixed opinions. Those who opposed claim Southwest Texas State University does not have enough evidence to look at bi . Background: Board looked at proposed change after t he university's faculty and staff bodies passed legislation. 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