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Activists and administrators face off over DSP

By Ryan Pfister

PSU College of Communications

In 2000, student activists against sweatshop labor camped out in front of Old Main to try and convince Penn State to take action on the issue.

Eight years later, they're still fighting.

The student activists in 2000 were asking Penn State to join the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC). Penn State, citing the organization's lack of experience, refused to affiliate with it until 2006. It was the last university in the Big Ten to join.

Within weeks of the WRC affiliation, however, student activists started protesting again - this time to get Penn State to sign on to the Designated Suppliers Program (DSP), an agreement that would force apparel companies to buy most of their goods from factories that, among other conditions, pay their workers a living range and permit employees to form unions.

[AUDIO: Hear Scott Nova, executive director of the WRC, explain why he thinks the DSP is necessary.]

The program is currently being developed by a group of over 40 universities that have committed to its principles.

[DOCUMENT: Read the current draft of the DSP.]

Penn State has declined to endorse the DSP until it is in its final form and the United States Justice Department rules on whether the program violates anti-trust laws. As Penn State President Graham Spanier wrote in a recent column in The Daily Collegian, "The university does not formally commit in advance to enterprises that do not yet exist and have not been fully vetted, even if we are supportive of the underlying goals."

Student activists, currently organized as the United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) and the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) do not accept that argument. And in an effort to convince Penn State to change its stance, they have resorted to everything from dropping off Valentine's Day cards in Spanier's office to playing Wiffleball in the lobby of Old Main.

[DOCUMENT: Read a letter from President Spanier asking USAS/SLAP to stop its actions.]

"I think for a lot of us, it's just if you're not doing something to promote the better good, or the goodness for the people, then you're not doing your job," says Anna Brewer, a USAS member. "You're not doing what you should be doing as a citizen."

USAS members' efforts culminated in a rally on the steps of Old Main on April 8, where they gave Penn State one week to sign on to the DSP. However, administrators made clear in statements over the next week that they had no intention of changing their stance.

Despite the setback, USAS members do not appear to be discouraged. Indeed, they've designed the organization's leadership structure around preparing future students to carry on their efforts.

[AUDIO: Hear Anna Brewer, a USAS member, talk about the group's rotating leadership system.]

"I think we have a lot to do and I don't see how they could not sign on to the DSP," Brewer says.