Handwritten valentines and candy were delivered to Penn State President Graham Spanier's office yesterday, but he may never know the wishes of his secret admirers.
Anti-sweatshop advocates poured a box of valentines outside the president's office, and as soon as the students left, Associate to the President for Administration Tom Poole, asked for a garbage can, and, without reading the valentines, started tossing the pile into the garbage.
"We are not influenced into action by people storming the office and dumping garbage on the floor," Poole said.
Members of United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) and Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) visited Spanier's office at 10 a.m. yesterday with the valentines. They went to express dissatisfaction with the administration's non-action against Penn State's sweatshop-made apparel.
Members of the student groups wrote a valentine poem for Spanier, but he wasn't in the office. They read it anyway to those who were in his office lobby. It began: "Roses are red, violets are blue. Something stinks in here, President Spanier, and we're pretty sure it's you."
After wishing the absent Spanier a Happy Valentine's Day, two group members dumped a large cardboard box full of candy hearts, chocolate candies, tissue paper flowers and notes from those upset that Penn State uses sweatshop labor for its clothing.
Joe Lucarelli (senior-East Asian studies and Japanese studies), a USAS member, said they did this because of Penn State's general sweatshop labor use, but also more specifically about the problems surrounding the New Era factory in Mobile, Ala.
Lucarelli said the New Era factory workers, who are mostly minority women, were experiencing racial and sexual harassment, and their attempts to unionize were quashed by the company.
Last Saturday, the University of Wisconsin immediately withdrew its contract from New Era after learning of these circumstances through students on their campus. Other universities such as the University of Washington, University of Miami and Purdue University are threatening to withdraw their contracts as well.
Around the same time, New Era capitulated and said they would soon go to the bargaining table with employees.
USAS members met with Poole this past Monday and asked him for a response about these events, Lucarelli said; however, they provide no answers, Lucarelli said, which shows the university's "irresponsibility."
After cleaning up the Valentines from the floor, Poole said the university is constantly monitoring the issue of sweatshops.
"We're concerned with doing the right thing, but we're waiting for a report from the Worker Rights Consortium," he said.
Doug Baldwin, a member of USAS, said he expected the administration to throw away the candy, but not the letters.
"They were valentines for Graham Spanier," he said. "I think they were a little discourteous for not keeping those around."
Baldwin said their actions yesterday were "semi-disruptive," but that all of their previous proceedings had been civil.
Kate Kokas (sophomore-secondary education and English), a USAS member, said she definitely thought delivering the valentines was a success.
"Especially the candy hearts," she said. "I saw them skip across the hall and laughed."
