Michigan Students Take Over Admin Building
In the latest confrontation between students and administration over apparel policies at the University of Michigan, a group of students from SOLE (Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality) staged a sit in inside the President's office today.
The University has had a Code of Conduct for those who manufacture U of M branded clothing since it was won by students in 1999. Designed to keep sweatshop labor out of the chain of manufacture, even administrators acknowledge that it never gets enforced. From the students' press release:
"[University President] Mary Sue Coleman has acknowledged that the Code is rarely enforced, and that those factories that do enforce become uncompetitive and are shut-down, but has yet to take any proactive step to stem this problem" said junior Jason Bates.
The students say the occupation is eight years in the making. The Code of Conduct was produced out of a similar sit-in by the same group in 1999, after which they issued a statement saying their victory was a "down payment" on the University's commitment to take a stand against sweatshops, "Today, we're here to collect." said Bates.
The students are fighting to get the University to sign onto the Worker Rights Consortium's Designated Suppliers Program, which is aimed at rewarding those clothing factories that are in compliance, instead of simply punishing those that aren't.
The President's office is not new territory to SOLE, but SOLE is nothing new to the administration, either. The dozen or so students inside were arrested by UM campus police after the building had closed for the evening, the Detroit Free Press reported; 60 students were outside the building in solidarity when the students were led out by police.