USAS Conference in Philadelphia

Being a brand spankin’ new Solista, I was especially excited about going to the conference for United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS); I hoped it would not only give me the opportunity to gage how involved SOLE is on a national level, but it would also answer many of the questions I had and ease any reservations I had about actively fighting for a sweatfree campus. Of course, USAS delivered. I got the chance to step outside of my ideological comfort zone and meet students from lots of other universities who were just as concerned about the state of sweatshops as I had become, and the strategy workshops that I attended really inspired and motivated me to further involve myself in the sweatfree campaign. I have to admit, I wasn’t sure how organized and systematic the campaign was until I met with representatives from other universities and the Worker’s Rights Consortium (WRC). I was impressed with how readily they threw themselves into the campaign and how eager they were to help us make U of M a campus whose clothing is made in factories that have good working conditions for their workers. I was also surprised at the high volume of people eager to set aside their own campaign to participate in helping out with ours. The reason for this is that U of M is the biggest university licenser in the country, and as such, are the one of the most influential voices for other universities in their own decision-making processes to approve the DSP. In essence, if we win this battle, so do most other USAS-affiliated organizations on college campuses all over the country. With everybody’s help, we were able to create an organized and effective strategy to thwart the big, bad wolves on our campus this fall.

All in all, between Philly nightlife, cellular projectiles, and solidarity at its finest, the USAS trip was a great experience. I’m looking forward to seeing what new experiences come our way this fall.

-Kai Ravariere