WRC
continued from page 1
memories of last May’s sit-in
when 31 students were arrested
after demonstrating for improved
campus diversity.
“How many times do we have
to sit-in and get arrested?” Bres
low said.
Sophomore political science
major Laura Close, one of the most
vocal protesters on the Johnson
Hall steps, said the time has come
for the administration to take ac
tion and join the WRC.
“Not one more time, not one
more day,” Close said. “We don’t
have to be sickened by wearing ex
ploitation on our bodies.”
The WRC would work to ensure
that all University products li
censed by companies such as Nike
are produced using fair labor prac
tices.
Frohnmayer has said he is pre
pared to sign on with the WRC
pending “appropriate conditions”
and final recommendations from
the University Senate and Licens
ing Code of Conduct Committee.
In a recent Emerald guest com
mentary, Frohnmayer stressed
that he wants the issue to go
through the proper government
channels on the University, even
if it takes longer than some stu
dents want.
However, ASUO President Wylie
Chen agreed with Close that the ad
ministration has waited too long.
“This has been going on for
more than a year,” he said. “Most
importantly, students voted for
this. They want it.”
A ballot measure urging Frohn
mayer to have the University join
the WRC passed with a 75 percent
majority in this year’s student
election.
Chen said he and many other
student leaders did not enter the
lobby to ensure that all protesters
were not arrested at once and
could continue the demonstration
today. Currently, they plan to
protest each day until their de
mands are met.
Frohnmayer “didn’t sign today
... I guess there’s going to be
more,” Close told the protesters.
Oregon is not the only universi
ty where students are demanding
the administration join the WRC.
Students at Purdue University
are currently on a hunger strike
while they are waiting for their
university to join the WRC, ac
Supporters of the WRC pound on the doors of Johnson Hall during a protest Tuesday afternoon.
Catharine Kendall Emerald
cording to the March 31 edition of
the Purdue Exponent.
Students at the University of
Kentucky are also protesting un
fair labor practices and urging
their administration to sign on
with the WRC, the Kentucky Ker
nel reported Tuesday.
A number of universities, in
cluding Brown University, New
York University and Oberlin Col
lege have already joined the WRC.
Students at Tuesday’s rally also
asked the University not to join the
Fair Labor Association or other
monitoring bodies that do not re
lease information to the public and
that conduct announced visits.
Sarah Jacobson, a Human
Rights Alliance member, com
pared the hierarchical structure of
the University to the structure of
corporations using sweatshop la
bor. She said that similar to retail
ers that use contractors — that in
turn use subcontractors, that then
hire the workers — the adminis
tration is disconnected from the
students and their needs and de
mands.
“We are asking for a change of
the system, not for a change in
what [Frohnmayer] is saying,” Ja
cobson said.
The administration granted stu
dents the right to sleep outside
Johnson Hall in protest Tuesday
night. After a rally at 10 p.m., stu
dents created a makeshift camp of
tents to spend the night.
“This has not stopped,” Close
said. “We’re not going to leave.”
Emerald reporter Jeremy Lang con
tributed to this article.
Brown
continued from page 1
In a letter to the Rhode Island
school, Nike said it was not will
ing to comply with the provisions
oftheWRC.
“If they don’t want to be moni
tored by the WRC, it begs the
question of ‘what do they have to
hide?’” Jacobson said.
Nike, which participates in the
Fair Labor Association — a moni
toring organization similar to the
WRC — said that it ended its asso
ciation with Brown’s hockey pro
gram because of changes made in
an existing contract.
“Brown changed the ground
rules of the contract midstream,”
said Simon Pestridge, manager of
Nike’s labor-practices department.
“We don’t tend to renegotiate
midstream.”
Brown’s hockey contract with
Nike was in its second year and
was scheduled to expire in 2001.
“The bottom line is we have
difficulty working with the WRC
because we don’t have a seat at
the table,” Pestridge said Tuesday.
The University Senate Rules
Committee reacted to the news by
changing its stance on a resolu
tion that was brought before the
senate at its March 8 meeting.
Resolution US9900-10, which
urged University President Dave
Frohnmayer to enroll the Univer
sity in the WRC, was originally
determined to have only a minor
fiscal impact, but the Rules Com
mittee officially withdrew that
ruling in light of Nike’s termina
tion of its contract with Brown.
Sen. James Schombert, Rules
Committee chairman, said that
the ruling was reversed because
there is some fear that Nike’s con
tract with the University could be
jeopardized, should it join the
WRC.
“The indirect fiscal impact
could be enormous,” he said.
The senate resolution was with
drawn from consideration before
the committee changed its ruling
because Frohnmayer’s Licensing
Code of Conduct Committee vot
ed unanimously in support of
joining the WRC.
Much confusion surrounds the
similarities and differences be
tween Nike’s relationships with
Brown and the University, those
involved in university product li
censing said.
Matt Dyste, University mer
chandising director, said that the
two situations were difficult to
compare because the University’s
association with Nike is much
broader than the one at Brown.
Frohnmayer said he would
make a decision on whether the
University will join the WRC fol
lowing discussion of the matter
in the April 12 University Senate
meeting. The meeting will be in
177 Lawrence from 3 to 5 p.m.
He added that the situation at
Brown University “won’t affect
anything we do here.”
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