After sending Penn State President Graham Spanier an invitation to a "welcome back" party outside Old Main today, anti-sweatshop activists received an invitation of their own to meet with newly appointed Vice President for Student Affairs Damon Sims next week.
Members of United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) and Student Labor Action Project (SLAP), wearing party hats and handing out fliers, set up a table outside Old Main with a cake reading "Welcome Back Spanier" and "DSP" around 12:30 p.m.
The groups have spent at least four years calling for the administration to sign the Designated Suppliers Program (DSP). While the program does not formally exist, it would require Penn State apparel to be produced in Worker Rights Consortium-approved factories.
USAS and SLAP had been involved in several controversial protests last year, including a sit-in inside Old Main that led to 31 students charged with defiant trespass.
Sims arrived soon after the students today, handing out invitations asking the students to meet with him next Friday to discuss the DSP.
Eating cake outside Old Main, Sims said he wanted to learn more about the issue.
"I assume that they're not fundamentally about the protest, but about the outcome," he said. "I want to have conversations with them about that."
USAS members said they appreciated Sims' interest.
"It'll be interesting to see what he has to say," USAS member Megan Quinn (senior-biology) said. "Of course, we're open to working constructively with the administration."
The students also went inside Old Main to Spanier's office to offer him a piece of the cake. Spanier, who was in a meeting, said earlier today he has spent time this summer speaking with "national leaders on the apparel manufacturing issue." He added he wants to bring students "up to date" on the issue.
"When I have the opportunity, someone in the administration will put some of our thoughts in writing," he said. "The issue goes beyond a handful of students; it's a university-wide issue that everyone should be concerned about."
