Ivy Leaguers demand sweatshop policy reform

PATRICK MCGARVEY/YH COMMON THREAD: On Tues., Feb. 23, SAS coordinator Jess Champagne, BK '01 discussed an anti-sweatshop Yale College Council resolution on WYBC.

The 30-student "knit-in" on Cross Campus on Tues., Feb. 16, wasn't exactly a scene out of the '60s. Many Yalies walked by slowly, confused and surprised by what they saw.

They had no clue that the knit-in was part of a collaborative effort by student groups at Yale, Princeton, Brown, Harvard, and Cornell to pressure Ivy League administrators to adopt an improved code of conduct for the workers who manufacture university-licensed apparel, including logo-bearing sweatshirts, T-shirts, and shot glasses.

The Yale knit-in, however, made a significantly quieter statement than the protests at the other schools. "We're clearly at a different stage than other universities are. Others are ahead of us in organization and outreach," Students Against Sweatshops (SAS) coordinator Jess Champagne, BK '01, said. "I'd like to see Yale do something that's vaguely approximating a leading role."

In contrast to the meager attendence at the Yale knit-in, 250 Princetonians rallied in front of the office of Robert Durkee, the school's vice president for public affairs, while over 70 Brown students marched across campus loudly chanting,"Hey, ho, sweatshop labor's got to go." Nonetheless, Yalies who participated in the knit-in were pleased with its results and will increase their efforts to gain support from their fellow students.

In addition to the knit-in, students from several campus organizations, including SAS and Amnesty International, have sent letters to President Richard Levin, GRD '74. The letters demand full public disclosure of the locations of all factories involved in the production of logo-bearing merchandise, provision of a living wage for all factory employees, employment of an independent, non-governmental monitor of the factories, and formation of a committee of students who would help draft the workers' code of conduct. Yale College Council (YCC) representative Johnny Scafidi, SM '00, drafted and sent a YCC resolution to Levin on Fri., Feb. 12, that included these points.

Ultimately, Levin has the authority to change the rules that govern Yale's relationship with the factories and determine what to include in the workers' code of conduct. He claims he has been discussing the issue with administrators at other Ivies, but has not yet agreed to any of the students' demands. "We have been working in cooperation with a group of Ivy League schools to come up with a common approach," Levin said. "The process is ongoing, and we think it is developing satisfactorily so far. Obviously, we have no institutional interest in putting the Yale name on things that are produced in inhumane conditions."

Last week, Brown and Princeton got a head start on Yale when they agreed to the students' living wage and factory disclosure demands. SAS members see this progress as a good sign. "It seems especially feasible that the Yale Administration will agree to a living wage code and public disclosure of factory locations, since Princeton's and Brown's have," Champagne said. She added that recent sit-ins at Georgetown and Duke have helped make sweatshops "a more high-profile issue, and that can only help us."

While SASers remain optimistic, other students at Yale continue to take a supportive yet detached view on the issue. "It's nice to see political activism, and I whole-heartedly support the protests," Megan O'Sullivan, PC '01, said. "But I'm curious as to what specifically about this cause--as opposed to faculty diversity, abortion, financial aid--has been so motivating."

Jill Reinherz, SM '00, expressed a similar sentiment. "From a distance, I think that these students are protesting a legitimate cause," she said. "But I don't know enough about where the sweatshops are located or what the actual labor conditions are to get involved."

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