Members of United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) traded megaphone-delivered rally cries for a relatively quiet Thursday as they staged a sit-in at the office of Penn State President Graham Spanier.

More than 10 USAS members entered Spanier's office one by one and asked if they could meet with the president to talk to him about cutting the university's contract with Russell Athletic.

The president's secretary turned down the students' requests because Spanier was not available, but told them they could wait in the office until it closed at 5 p.m.

Penn State placed Russell on probation earlier this month after the company closed an 1,800-worker factory in Honduras in January. Controversy has arisen over whether the apparel supplier closed the factory because of economic concerns or because factory workers were attempting to unionize.

"Russell is breaching our licensing contract, violating our code of conduct, violating their terms of probation and breaking Honduran law," USAS member Julia Watkins said. "It is obviously time for Penn State to cut our contract with Russell. If we don't, then we are reducing our code of conduct and our licensing agreement to nothing because there is no enforcement."

USAS member Chris Stevens said university officials have failed to listen to students in the past, citing an attempt in November to deliver more than 800 student-signed petitions urging Penn State to terminate Russell's contract.

Tom Poole, associate to the president for administration, said the university sent a letter of concern to Russell and is giving the company until March 1 to respond.

However, USAS felt the sit-in was needed to make the group's voice heard.

"I wish we didn't have to implement this type of action. There just wasn't an alternative," Stevens (sophomore-anthropology) said. "We have been working around this case since October and [Penn State] was talking about how they might do something, but then they just waited for the [Fair Labor Association] report."

He added the administration also promised to contact USAS if it took any steps of action toward the apparel manufacturer, but it failed to do so.

"Instead they took an action that was pretty inconsequential and lacked any force behind it," Stevens said about Penn State's recent move to put Russell on probation.

While the student activists were sitting in Spanier's office, they received a text message informing them that Purdue University had just cut its contract with Russell.

The new information was met with claps and cheers from USAS members.

"Historically, Russell has never taken action to correct its violations until universities threatened or actually cut contracts," Watkins (senior-hotel, restaurant and institutional management) said. "Four other Big Ten schools have now taken a more severe stance on the Russell Athletic case."

Watkins cited the University of Michigan's labor committee, which recently urged the university to terminate its Russell contract. She added the University of Minnesota issued a breach of contract notification to the apparel manufacturer, and the University of Wisconsin and Purdue have both severed ties with Russell.

USAS will continue its activism against Russell Athletic at noon today by playing a dodgeball game on Old Main lawn.

USAS member Megan Quinn said the game would pit the Fair Labor Association and Russell Athletic against Honduran workers and universities who have recently cut ties with the apparel manufacturer.

"We aren't sure which team Spanier will play for yet," Quinn (senior-biology) said. "But I think he will be the deciding factor on who wins."