STUDENT PROTESTS EXPLODE
WISCONSIN BADGER HERALD: On Feb. 3, 1999, a group of UW-Madison students began a 96-hour sit-in in Bascom Hall to protest the manufacturing of UW apparel in sweatshops. Just over one year later, the protest continued as a group of over 70 students stormed Chancellor David Ward's office Wednesday and began a second sit-in for the same cause. A rally endorsed by several student groups was held on Library Mall at 2:30 p.m. The rally quickly escalated into a sit-in when students marched to Bascom Hall and into Ward's office. Almost two hours into the demonstration, police officers gained entrance to the office through a door on the basement floor of Bascom Hall. When five students tried to push their way in, they were met by police officers spraying a chemical agent in their faces through the door crack. In retaliation, a student grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher to spray back at the police through the door crack. Approximately five hours into the protest, Ward met one of the protesters' demands by agreeing to withdraw from the Fair Labor Association. The group vowed to continue the sit-in until Ward conceded to Wisconsin becoming a member of the Workers' Rights Consortium. Ward, however, said he would meet with the protesters Monday and continue talks . . .
AT 10 A.M. WEDNESDAY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN STUDENTS began a sit-in in the office of Shirley Newman, the dean of the College of Literature, Science and Art. "We are prepared to stay until Michigan signs onto the WRC," said Students Organized for Labor and Economic Equity Rachel Endelman . . . Students charged into the office and took over the reception area and office. Police arrived on the scene quickly but left after the sit-in was observed to be non-violent, Endelman said.
JOURNAL-NEWS, OXFORD, OH: Over 150 members of the Miami community came out and listened to a student-led anti-sweatshop rally held behind Shriver Center on Tuesday afternoon. Following the hour-long rally, which featured speakers from several labor organizations, approximately 55 ralliers took their cause to the street, marching through Oxford. The purpose of the rally, according to Miami University Students/Staff Against Sweatshops leaders, was to raise awareness of sweatshop labor conditions and put pressure on university officials to join the newly created Worker Rights Consortium. "We feel the same as the students," university spokesman Richard Little said as he watched the rally. "They need to continue to raise awareness. That is what has drawn this issue to the forefront" . . . Six of the students fasted for 48 hours in solidarity with over 30 University of Pennsylvania students who held a sit in for more than 167 hours in their president's office until Penn withdrew from the Fair Labor Association.
CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION: The University of Pennsylvania, bowing to the demands of students who staged a nine-day sit-in, agreed on Tuesday to withdraw from an anti-sweatshop group criticized by the protesters as too weak. President Judith Rodin told the 13 protesters occupying the foyer outside of her office that she would remove the university from the Fair Labor Association. The students -- members of the University of Pennsylvania Students Against Sweatshops -- said they would continue a 48-hour fast they started Monday at noon to raise awareness for the cause and show solidarity for other students demonstrating nationwide against the Fair Labor Association.
PETER COUVARES, UNITED FACULTY AND ACADEMIC STAFF, WISCONSIN: Following a rally on campus this afternoon, we marched to occupy an administration building housing the office of the University Chancellor, David Ward. Well over one hundred people rallied initially, and roughly 50 are remaining in the building to stay the night . . . The police have already responded with unprovoked violence. Shortly after the sit-in began, police officers pepper-gassed the demonstrators as officers forced their way into the chancellor's office, where six more students are sitting in, physically locked together . . . Notably, the sit-in consists not just of students but of activists from the campus and community labor movements, including a number from my local (United Faculty and Academic Staff, AFT Local 223). We have also had an unexpected guest speaker from the strike committee of the student strike at the University of Mexico speaking in solidarity of our struggle here and asking for our support of their struggle for education rights in Mexico.
PURDUE EXPONENT: Members of Purdue Students Against Sweatshops fasted for two days in support of fair labor student activists at the University of Pennsylvania . . . Marikah Mancini, president of Purdue Students Against Sweatshops, said that 21 Purdue students fasted Monday and Tuesday in support of the Penn students . . . More than 60 campuses across the country participated in the fast, the purpose of which was to "raise national consciousness of the exploitation of textile workers around the world," according to a statement from Penn. . . . Nationally, there are more than 200 chapters of United Students Against Sweatshops that are lobbying their administrations for more effective monitoring of the factories producing apparel with their school name.
USAS http://www.umich.edu/~sole/usas WEBCAM AT UM PROTEST: http://www.umich.edu/~sole/sweatin2000/ U OF WISCONSIN CHANCELLOR DAVID WARD 608-262-9946 STATEMENTS OF SUPPORT 608-262-9036 or ebrakken at students.wisc.edu CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION http://chronicle.com