Mich. Students Occupy Dean's Office
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- With one campus sit-in entering its 11th day, a
second group of University of Michigan students occupied a dean's office to
protest conditions at factories that make school-licensed apparel.
Twenty students took over the office of liberal arts Dean Shirley N. Neuman on
Wednesday, demanding that university President Lee Bollinger join an
organization that monitors conditions in factories that produce clothing for the
$2.5 billion-a-year licensed collegiate apparel business.
The student protesters favor affiliation with the Worker Rights Consortium, which
was developed by students in consultation with workers and human rights groups.
Bollinger will defer an endorsement but will continue studying the issues,
university spokesman Joel Seguine said Wednesday.
Michigan earned about $3 million in licensing royalties in the past fiscal year, said
Seguine, who added that the students have been meeting with Michigan officials
about the licensed-apparel issue.
Lee Palmer, a protester, said Bollinger stopped by the dean's office Wednesday
and spoke with the students.
A two-day, March 1999 sit-in at Bollinger's office ultimately resulted in a code of
conduct for protection of workers at the plants that includes compensation
standards and limitations on required work hours and child labor.
Palmer said sufficient action had not been taken in implementing the code of
conduct.
In another protest at Michigan, eight minority students continue to occupy the
headquarters of the secretive campus society Michigamua.
Those protesters say Michigamua, which includes former President Ford among
its alumni, continues to use American Indian symbols in its rituals despite a 1989
promise to stop using such symbols. The sleep-in protest began Feb. 6.
The sweatshop issue has prompted protests at a number of campuses. On
Tuesday, University of Pennsylvania students seeking better work conditions for
makers of school-related clothing ended an eight-day sit-in after school officials
met some of their demands.
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