Sweatshops beyond the ivy walls

SHAWN CHENG/YH

At his December 1993 inauguration, University President Richard Levin, GRD '74, spoke of Yale's "enormous responsibility" in the "wider world beyond the ivy walls." As he preached responsibility, a 15-year-old girl somewhere in El Salvador or Bangladesh toiled 60 hours a week to produce Yale T-shirts. For her efforts, she was probably paid as little as one percent of the shirts' retail value. While Levin urged us "to educate and to lead, to shape the values of the wider world so that they, too, encourage the full realization of human potential," this girl was not allowed to stop for a minute to go the bathroom. Laboring under the intimidating presence of armed guards, she was unable to present her grievances to anyone or to discuss them with her fellow workers. She was also denied adequate medical care. This girl did not even know that she was making Yale apparel; the Yale logo is added later in the production process, and Yale's licensees were not and are not required to submit to the public the names and addresses of the factories that they use.

At that time, her plight had not yet become national news in the United States. This was before the Kathie Lee Gifford scandal, President Clinton's call for an apparel industry partnership, and the explosion of campus activism. It seems fair, then, to excuse President Levin for failing to realize the hideous irony that his words held six long years ago.

But what about now? Sadly, not only has Yale failed to "educate and to lead" on the issue of sweatshops, but it has fallen behind its peer institutions. On Mon., Mar. 15, a letter to student activists from the executive director of the Council of Ivy Group Presidents stated, "Five Ivy institutions have announced commitments to require full public disclosure of such factory sites by their licensees." Yale was not one of the five schools.

In fact, to this day Yale fails to demand the names and addresses of the factories that produce the apparel that we wear and that Yale markets for profit. Such information would be invaluable in aiding outside investigators in their determination of the actual conditions in garment factories. It would remove the veil of secrecy that the apparel industry throws over their sickening labor conditions. Full public disclosure would allow administrators, students, and today's garment laborers to know that it is Yale who profits from the exploitation of thousands of young people across the world.

Some opponents of full public disclosure, notably apparel industry representatives, claim that such a report would expose manufacturing trade secrets. This specious claim ignores the fact that many factories produce garments for multiple manufacturers, and that the manufacturing techniques of the apparel industry have not changed substantially for a long time. Consider that a task force at the University of North Carolina wrote in February that "all members of the Task Force support the principle of full disclosure, and most are not convinced that secrecy regarding manufacturing facilities is necessary, legitimate, or even sustainable." The only secret that might actually be exposed is the apparel industry's reliance on abusive labor practices.

What is Yale's response to the call for full public disclosure? "It's under consideration, stay tuned," Yale's director of licensing HelenKauder said (YDN, 3/23/99). That was six months ago. What could there possibly still be to consider?

In the words of President Levin, "We influence the wider world by educating leaders and citizens. Through our efforts to discover truths about humanity and nature, we also influence, not always intentionally, the material well-being of our nation and the world." It is time for Yale to join Harvard, Princeton, and the three other Ivy schools that have demanded full public disclosure, lest we be the last to discover some unsettling but important truths.

President Levin, allow us to begin the process of improving the material, moral, and social well-being of our nation and of the world. Tell us where our clothes are made.

Saurav Sarkar, a member of Students Against Sweatshops, is a senior in Saybrook.

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