Another university protests corporation tied to schools

The University has not yet cornered the market on corporate protesting.

Florida State University's Coalition for a Corporate-Free Campus is protesting Nike ties to FSU because of the corporation's reported sweatshop conditions in Indonesia.

News of this protest comes on the heels of the wrap-up of Penn State's campaign against PepsiCo sponsored by Students for a Democratic Burma. Whether the group will continue its crusade against human rights violations by American corporations that fund the University is questionable, said Andrew Miller, member of the group.

"I'm not really sure what's going to happen," he said.

Because he is graduating, Miller said, he will not be taking up the torch to protest the University's ties to Nike. As for the other members of the group, he said he cannot speculate.

"I think it's a great campaign -- better than Pepsi," he said.

This is a better campaign because of the close ties between the governments of the United States and Indonesia, Miller explained.

Students for a Democratic Burma successfully protested PepsiCo's presence in Burma. The group fasted on the lawn between Willard Building and Schwab Auditorium last Fall in protest of the human rights violations existing in Burma.

Burma's current government, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), came to power in 1988 after gunning down thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators.

Despite only getting 2 percent of seats in a 1990 election, SLORC refused to relinquish control of the government and remains in power today.

Although the group may be laying dormant at the moment, they had previously considered entering negotiations with Nike and the University.

"For example, last semester we did consider going into Nike/PSU re-negotiations," Miller said. "It's just that Nike is such a high profile target."

Delphine Lee, also a member of Students for a Democratic Burma, said the campaign sounds as if it would be along the same lines as the Pepsi campaign. But, like Miller, she will be graduating soon and won't be the one to pick up where the PepsiCo campaign left off.

"My guess is someone new will take over," she said.

Who that person will be, neither Miller or Lee know, they said.

The protest of Nike's presence in Indonesia and the human rights violations its workers are reportedly subject to is not just student-bound, Miller said.

"This is not just a student movement," he said. "Labor groups are involved. There is a boycott Nike web page."