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"We became organizers," activist Megan Quinn said. "We learned how to mobilize people, how to analyze situations. Just critical thinking skills."

United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) is an on-campus group that has been fighting for Penn State to be sweatshop-free for nine years, Quinn said. The group's tactics have included playing wiffle ball inside Old Main, dumping valentines on Penn State President Graham Spanier's office floor and the Old Main sit-in that led to Quinn's arrest and 30 others arrested.

Quinn, a senior majoring in biology, has been an active member of USAS for the past year and a half. She said she believes the experience -- and the subsequent record -- was worth it because it made a point to the Penn State administration.

"We were very respectful and calm because our problem wasn't with the cops or other administrators," she said. "It was with President Spanier absolutely point-blank refusing to sign on to the Designated Suppliers Program and actually refusing to meet with USAS."

USAS' goal is to get the university to sign onto the DSP, which is a a system for protecting the rights of the workers who sew university logo apparel, according to the program's Web site.

The sit in began about 11 a.m. April 15, and 31 students were charged.

Those charged eventually were accepted into the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition.

The sit-in is just the beginning of USAS' campaign, Quinn said. The group will not stop until Spanier signs the DSP. Most recently, the group has begun a "study-in," sitting, waiting, and, of course, studying, right outside Spanier's Old Main office.

"A lot of people have the idea that the sit in was the end of our campaign, that was what we were escalating to, but it was just a step to show that this was an important issue -- that students care and to show the administration this was not an issue that could be ignored any longer," Quinn said.

USAS met earlier this semester with Penn State President Graham Spanier and Vice President for Student Affairs Damon Sims in a closed meeting in the HUB-Robeson Center. While the meeting was a step forward -- it was the first time Spanier formally met with USAS in a few years -- it still didn't accomplish USAS' goal, Quinn said.

"It was a very tense meeting," Quinn said. "What we're asking him to do is write a letter of support for the DSP and to sign onto the DSP working group."

Spanier has repeatedly said he will not sign the DSP until it is approved and declared to not be in violation of any anti-trust agreements by the Justice Department.

A sweatshop-free world is Quinn's ultimate goal.

"The term 'sweatshop-free' means, for me, living with respect for others, while being conscious of the impact our society has on others," she said. "It's part of a bigger awareness of one's impact on others, and, well, above all, respect for the basic rights of every other person."

Taking on activism

This semester USAS is also trying to prove to the university that student activism is alive and well. The group joined with Eco-Action, Amnesty International, Students for Justice in Palestine, Atheists and Agnostics of Penn State; SpeakOut and Knitivism to form the Progressive Student Alliance (PSA). The PSA was formed partly in response to a column Spaneir wrote about the state of student activism. In the column, Spanier said students aren't as active, mentioning how USAS members "look at me blankly when I try to engage them in a discussion about antitrust concerns ... "

"This is our cause. It's what we do, and to say we're misinformed and that everything we do is basically for nothing is pretty horrible," USAS member Molly Bolick (senior-anthropology), told The Daily Collegian.

Quinn, however, acknowledged that Spanier is right in that activism today is different than in the 1960s.

"The 1960's were a different climate: fewer, more defined, more homogenous movements," she said. "Today's activist climate represents the diversity of causes that people care about, with people from a variety of backgrounds filling leadership positions. Activism is evolving, and I think that's really awesome."

The cause, however, takes its toll both academically and socially on Quinn and her fellow activists.

"I'm really busy. I mean, yeah you make sacrifices as far as schoolwork goes, but ultimately I think it's a really important fight to fight," Quinn said. "And I think our campaign is going in a good direction. Were setting up to escalate in the spring."

Quinn's anti-sweatshop mentality can get in the way of shopping and wearing certain clothes.

Because of her anti-sweatshop views, Quinn said she only shops in thrift stores, and she and her fellow activists trade clothes.

"It's virtually impossible to know where your clothes are produced because right now there aren't any reliable third party organizations," Quinn said. "Really, this issue wont be solved by consumer-driven tactics. I think it requires a systematic overhaul."

Besides, "I'm just also cheap," Quinn said.

Quinn is busy working toward getting her degree in May. She hopes to go to graduate school.

She acknowledged the campaign will be in the hands of others after she leaves Penn State.

When I leave PSU, it'll be up to the USAS members here to lead the DSP campaign, but I'll certainly support them as much as they want me to," she said. "I'm also applying to grad schools right now, so as long as I don't chicken out of going, I'm sure I'll get involved with USAS wherever I end up."

Getting into the activism spirit

Megan Quinn said she and the members of USAS draw strength and also get ideas from other activists. In particular, USAS members are inspired by Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail," which encourages peaceful activism. Here you can listen to Quinn read her favorite passage.

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