Eight student activists showed up at Penn State President Graham Spanier's office yesterday afternoon to deliver a U.S. Senate bill that, if passed, would prevent U.S. companies from profiting from sweatshop labor.

The group consisted of members of United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) and other concerned students who want Spanier to implement the Designated Supplier Program (DSP), a plan for universities designed to ensure that its licensed apparel is not being produced in sweatshops.

The students were told that Spanier was currently in a meeting and needed to catch a plane shortly afterward. Instead, Daniel Sieminski, assistant vice president of finance and business, met the group in Spanier's office for a 20-minute discussion on the issue.

Sieminski said he would put the bill and other materials the group presented on Spanier's desk after the meeting.

If the bill is passed, U.S. firms will be able to sue competitors they believe are selling products made in sweatshops. If the Federal Trade Commission finds the complaint valid, it can prevent the importation of products from the foreign firm, and could also fine the offending U.S. company.

In the meantime, the students said they hope that Penn State will adopt the DSP.

"I find it disheartening that one of the nation's premiere higher education systems is so far behind the times," Ben Brewer (junior-Spanish) said after the meeting.

Brewer also said the university can't make any meaningful, concrete changes to the DSP if they do not sign it.

About 30 universities around the nation have already adopted the DSP including Columbia, Georgetown, Fordham and Syracuse.

During the meeting, Sieminski and students discussed the signing, implementation and effects of the program.

The students expressed concern that the university has taken too long to adopt plans aimed at reducing the use of sweatshop labor in the past and fear that it will take just as long for it to adopt the DSP.

Sieminski said the university is doing all that it can to reduce its involvement in sweatshops, and that signing the DSP would not have a big impact on its efforts.

"I think people may be misinterpreting the situation. Just because we don't sign it does not mean we don't support what it stands for," Sieminski said. "We are still encouraging wide participation in the DSP among our manufacturers."

Sieminski said signing the plan is not the same as actually doing something about unfair labor practices and that Penn State is making many of the same efforts as the universities that have officially adopted the plan.

"We are as active, if not more active, as other universities who have signed the DSP," Sieminski said.

USAS and SLAP requested that Spanier review the material and adopt the program by Feb. 14.

"Penn State could be addressing the issues far more effectively if they signed [DSP], even if Sieminski says it's just a symbolic gesture," Brewer said.