IU joins campaign to phase out sweatshops

A proposal that requires companies that produce IU apparel to do so in "sweat-free" factories will likely be implemented this summer. The plan, which IU President Adam Herbert signed earlier this semester, adopts the Sweat-Free Campus Campaign to require companies such as Nike, adidas and Reebok to manufacture collegiate apparel under standards pushed for by IU's No Sweat! group. \nThe proposal will be phased in slowly, said Jessica Rutter, the national organizer of program for United Students Against Sweatshops. \nThere will be a six-month grace period, where companies will be told the requirements for factories. A list of factories that meet the required conditions will be provided, and companies will have to have a certain percentage of their university apparel produced in these factories. The percentage will increase each year, said Ursula McTaggart, a member of No Sweat! at IU.\n"We're hoping to get around 50 universities supporting the proposal by spring," Rutter said. \nThe Sweat-Free Campus Campaign has had a positive response from IU administrators, McTaggart said. Dean of Students Dick McKaig was involved with helping No Sweat! get the administration to approve the Sweat-Free Campus proposal, in addition to Herbert signing the proposal.\nThe Sweat-Free Campus Campaign is one of three cornerstone campaigns supported by USAS. It is a "multi-faceted, extremely successful program in which students organize anti-sweatshop campaigns on their campuses, mandating that the clothes bearing their collegiate logos be manufactured under fair and ethical conditions," according to the USAS Web site. \nThe idea behind the campaign is to support factories with better working conditions and living wages for employees. "We want college students to be able to wear their apparel with pride," Rutter said. \nIn the past, it has been hard for universities to enforce policies about conditions in factories, but under the new proposal, the Workers Rights Consortium will enforce the regulations. \n"The Workers Rights Consortium is an international, nonprofit organization whose whole job is to work on issues in the garment industry," McTaggart said. "They do the monitoring for us."\nThe proposal will not be implemented until enough schools are backing it, and McTaggart said there is not a set number of schools needed.\n"It all depends on the size of the school and the number of orders they'll be able to put into the factories," she said.\nBut not all students share the same sentiments as those in No Sweat!. \nFreshman John Fitton has his own concerns about the program.\n"I worry about the kids in the factories that will no longer be used. Those jobs were keeping them straight and off the streets," Fitton said.\nStudents at IU have been pushing for this proposal since the fall and activists have been fighting for similar issues for years.\n"We've been campaigning since September for this particular program," McTaggart said. "And we've been working on general non-sweatshop issues on campus for quite a few years. Our long-term goal is to have all universities involved in the program."\nThe University of Connecticut, Georgetown University and Wisconsin are among the other schools that have currently approved the proposal, \nMcTaggart said.