Some crazy things have been happening on our beloved campus lately: a piñata outside the HUB-Robeson Center, students donning garbage bags and a wiffle ball game inside Old Main. And Penn State Student Labor Action Project and United Students Against Sweatshops (SLAP/USAS) are the culprits.
Many students assume that SLAP/USAS are only interested in disrupting the administration. This should come as no surprise: Students are often aware of the group's antics, but little else. SLAP/USAS's more formal approaches to the administration -- letters, e-mails, phone calls, endorsements, petitions, invitations to open forums, regular visits to administrative offices and so on -- are not covered by the press. Therefore, SLAP/USAS are often perceived as a bunch of radical, misinformed lunatics.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
In a recent letter, President Spanier accused our organization of being ill-informed about the complexities of the sweatshop issue. But as our response -- available on the Safeguard Old State Web site -- makes clear, we know more than his administration about this issue.
We know, for example, that the Designated Suppliers Program (DSP) does not violate anti-trust laws. So do Columbia University, Georgetown, Duke, Cornell and three of the Big Ten schools -- Wisconsin-Madison, Indiana and Iowa. These universities, along with 33 others, have already signed on to support the DSP.
Even professors at Penn State's own Dickinson School of Law have openly refuted the administration's claims by stating that the DSP is legally sound. If the administration isn't listening to our own legal professionals, whom are they listening to?
The DSP is an excellent program that would guarantee that Penn State apparel is sweatshop-free. The program was originally suggested by the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), an independent monitoring agency affiliated with Penn State. In short, the DSP ensures that workers producing Penn State apparel are paid living wages and afforded the right to organize unions.
Contrary to popular misconceptions, the DSP would not close factories or take people's jobs. It would simply raise the standards in factories where Penn State apparel is produced. And the program would only cost us, the consumers, a 25-cent price increase at most. For only a 25-cent increase to the cost of a Penn State hoodie, the wages of the workers who produce Penn State apparel could be doubled.
The administration would like you to believe that the DSP doesn't exist. In fact, I can show it to you -- just check out the WRC's Web site. Forty universities are working on finalizing the program right now. Though the program has yet to be implemented, it certainly exists.
In fact, implementation of the DSP is being delayed, in part, by Graham Spanier and his administration's foot dragging. The program will not be put into practice until it has enough support to be effective. Spanier's refusal to adopt the DSP prolongs human suffering.
Currently, the people who produce Penn State apparel endure starvation wages, long hours, forced overtime, dangerous working conditions and mental, physical and sexual abuse, according to the WRC. Most of these workers are women or children. If they try to engage in collective bargaining to assert their basic rights, workers are threatened, beaten, kidnapped and murdered.
We believe that Penn State can and should become a leader in the international campaign against these sweatshop practices. But Spanier and his administration are forcing the university to assume a passive role. He says that his administration is "monitoring" the issue, "following" allegations of abuse, and "communicating" in order to get things done. That is not enough.
In order to ensure that the rights of the workers who produce Penn State apparel are respected, the administration must adopt the DSP. Spanier's inaction hurts both the workers and Penn State.
After all, what does our alma mater say? "May no act of ours bring shame." What a shame that Spanier refuses to take an active stance on such an important issue.
