Penn State President Graham Spanier said judicial affairs sanctions against a graduate student activist will stand, despite a petition signed by 48 university professors asking that she be cleared.

Spanier's statement came in response to a letter delivered to his office last Tuesday by four professors asking him to drop charges against Olivia Guevara and to increase the university's commitment to assuring that its licensed apparel is not being made in sweatshops.

Judicial affairs recently found Guevara (graduate-labor studies) guilty of damaging university buildings with chalked anti-sweatshop messages. She received a $400 fine and a seven-year citation on her academic record. All criminal charges filed against Guevara were dismissed Feb. 5 due to lack of evidence.

Referring to the dismissal of her charges in criminal court, the professors who delivered the letter to Spanier's office expressed concern that the university does not have adequate evidence against Guevara.

Penn State officials have maintained that judicial affairs and criminal court are two separate entities and a discrepancy in rulings is not unheard of. Spanier's letter, released last week, stated that at her judicial affairs meeting, Guevara had admitted to "scrawling on the doors of the building," referring to Old Main.

"Although she was silent on her guilt in a subsequent public legal hearing, this has no bearing on the University's internal findings, which found her responsible on more than adequate evidence," Spanier's statement reads.

Guevara said she never admitted to chalking the doors of Old Main, which is one of the damages for which she was fined.

Guevara has said in the past that she thinks the university is prosecuting her to single her out and stop her activism in the anti-sweatshop movement.

Several professors also expressed these concerns at a meeting that they had with Penn State spokesman Stephen MacCarthy after delivering the letter last Tuesday.

In his letter Spanier said he was "deeply disappointed" that faculty whom he respects would accuse the university of punishing a student for her beliefs and that the judicial affairs decision only concerned vandalism.

"I would abhor such an action. I deeply regret that you are unaware that we stand on higher principles," he wrote.

Guevara is a member of the Student Labor Action Project and United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), which have been pressuring the university to adopt the Designated Supplier Program (DSP), a plan that ensures licensed apparel for universities is not being made in overseas sweatshops.

The professors' letter also encouraged Spanier to adopt the DSP.

Spanier wrote that Penn State is committed to ensuring that the production chain for its merchandise is sweatshop free, but stopped short of endorsing the DSP.

"This proposal has had a substantial level of attention from me and from several staff who deal with issues of purchasing, licensing, and related contractual and business relationships," he wrote.

Spanier also wrote that the university had been legally advised that the DSP violates anti-trust laws and could put Penn State at legal risk.

"We will continue to monitor avenues for improvement in oversees [sic] apparel manufacturing, and if the legal, organizational and conceptual difficulties that are so clearly evident with the DSP can be resolved, we would consider participating," he wrote.

Ellen Dannin, a law professor who signed the letter, said she was "shocked" when she read Spanier's letter.

"One of my big concerns is that the tone of the letter will make it harder to resolve those two problems, which I think are fundamentally important," Dannin said.

Dannin added that she was anxious to meet with other professors, staff, administrators and students to start some dialogue on adopting the DSP.

"I personally would like to work to get things back on track, so we can work together in a colloquial way," Dannin said. "I think with people of good faith that can happen."