USC Students Sitting In Against Sweatshops

Student activism is alive and well. According to a phone call I just received from a USC student, 13 USC students are currently sitting-in at President Steve Sample's office to demand that USC join 30 others universities and colleges to the anti-sweatshop Designated Suppliers Program (DSP). Here is the DSP website with a description of the anti-sweatshop program and a list of the 30 universities that have joined DSP, including the UC system, Columbia, Cornell, Wisconsin, U/Conn, Colorado, Brandeis, Skidmore, Smith, Indiana, Miami, Syracuse and Iowa.   Here is a YouTube video about recent USC protests on this issue.  Here is an article I wrote in The Nation last year about the DSP.

Below is an email from United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) about the USC protest.

Support USC Students Sitting In For The DSP! Support USC Students Sitting In For The DSP! Dear Professor Peter Dreier, For the past 8 years, students at USC have been campaigning to get their university to take a stand in support of the workers producing their apparel. After nearly a decade, not only has USC not taken action, but the president of the university still refuses to even meet with students. In response, 15 students have occupied his office and have refused to leave until USC affilates with the WRC and adopts the DSP. Send a message to President Sample and demand that USC make a commitment to workers' rights today! In addition to sending him an email, please take 30 seconds to give him a call at the following number and demand that USC affiliate with the WRC and adopt the DSP! (213) 740-2111 Hello, my name is ___________ and I am a ______________ at ____________. It is hard to believe that even though students have been bringing the issue of USC's dependence on sweatshops to your attention for the last eight years, USC has still not made a real commitment to workers' rights. 8 years is far too long. Adopt the DSP and affiliate with WRC today! Send a letter to the following decision maker(s): President of USC Steven B. Sample President of USC Steven Sample Below is the sample letter: Subject: Eight Years Is Enough! Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here], I am extremely disappointed to hear that, even though students on your campus have been brining this issue to your attention for the past eight years, the University of Southern California has refused to make a real commitment to ensuring that the rights of workers producing your licensed apparel are protected. Given that your university claims to adhere to a higher standard, I am surprised not only by your lack of regard for workers' rights, but for your repeated attempts to silence your very own students. Despite overwhelming student support, USC has refused not only to join the thirty-one major universities that have adopted the Designated Suppliers Program, which would ensure that university apparel is produced in factories in which workers truly have the right to form a union and earn a living wage. Not only that, but your university has fallen behind the 167 other universities, not to mention the city of Los Angeles, that have affiliated with the Worker Ri! ghts Consortium. Two weeks ago, a worker from one of the factories producing clothes for universities spoke on your campus about the ways in which brands like Nike cut and run from her factory as soon as workers successfully formed a union. Despite this first hand evidence, USC has proven unwilling to take the steps necessary to ensure that these brands are held accountable for their destructive business practices. By refusing to make a real commitment to the rights of the workers producing USC apparel, your university is failing to live up to its stated image as a first-tier university that has high regard for its students and citizens. Eight years is long enough. Adopt the DSP and affiliate with the WRC NOW! Sincerely, Professor Peter Dreier Take Action! Instructions: Click here to take action on this issue or choose the "Reply to Sender" option on your email program. Tell-A-Friend: Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this. Tell-a-Friend! What's At Stake: Despite supposed commitments by universities and brands, university apparel is still made in sweatshops. This will continue to be the case until brands are forced to make fundamental changes in the way they do business. Until brands truly commit to sourcing from factories in which the rights of workers are respected, a commitment that includes paying a slightly higher price for their goods, university clothes will continue to be made in sweatshops. It is for this reason that students have demanded, and on thirty campuses won, the adoption of the Designated Suppliers Program (DSP). The DSP will require the brands producing university apparel to source from factories in which workers have the freedom to form a union and earn enough to support a family. In addition, it will require these brands to pay enough for their goods to make this possible. If you would like to find out more about the DSP, as well as how to get more involved, then please go to www.studentsagainstsweatshops.org Campaign Expiration Date: May 10, 2007 If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for United Students Against Sweatshops. This message was sent to dreier@oxy.edu. Visit your subscription management page to modify your email communication preferences or update your personal profile. To stop ALL email from United Students Against Sweatshops, click to remove yourself from our lists (or reply via email with "remove or unsubscribe" in the subject line).

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