SOLE puts the heat on Mary Sue Coleman to accept DSP

Almost a month into the fall semester here at the University of Michigan, SOLE has stepped up its sweat-free campaign. We want to make President Mary Sue Coleman know that we will not let her drag her heels on adopting the Designated Supplier Program (DSP). The DSP, which has already been accepted by over 20 predominant universities including the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Georgetown, Columbia and the entire University of California school system , ensures that all university apparel is not made in sweatshops. This means, as the United Students Against Sweatshops has defined it, that "University logo apparel goods will be sourced from a set of designated supplier factories that have been determined by universities to have affirmatively demonstrated full and consistent respect for the rights of their employees" including that of the right to form a union, receive a living wage, and decent factory work conditions.

As of now though, President Mary Sue Coleman has continued to put off SOLE and the DSP but now we are forcing the issue. For the past two weeks we have delivered, on a daily basis, a letter to President Coleman along with a copy of the DSP. The letter says the following:

President Coleman,

We are deeply disappointed by the lack of action on the part of the President's Office and the LS-HR Committee. Back in April the LS-HR Committee pledged to explore alternatives to the DSP as well as other methods by which to improve enforcement of the Code of Conduct. Aside from LS-HR Chair Larry Root's occasional attendance of DSP Working Group meetings, nothing has been done.

The WRC is releasing a revised version of the DSP, which has been approved by the DSP Working Group available sometime next week. You have the power to improve the working conditions of thousands of workers who produce University of Michigan apparel. Based on your commendable support of the Expect Respect Campaign, SOLE expects you to respect the rights of workers worldwide. We strongly encourage you to take action on this upcoming revision as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

SOLE
Sole.maintain@umich.edu

Along with this daily delivery, we will be escalating our direct action against the administration until they accept the DSP. This Friday, September 29th @ 12:30 pm, we are having a sweatfree pep rally in President Coleman's office. SOLE members will be invading the administration building with maize and blue clothing, a boom box blasting "Hail to the Victors", and another letter and copy of the DSP. This is only the tip of the iceberg if the administration continues to ignore our demands. In addition, we will be rallying support from the general student body through letter-writing efforts from other campus groups and individuals. President Mary Sue Coleman won't be able to get away with skirting the issue.

Reportback from USAS Retreat

I didn't know exactly what to expect from USAS on the national
level. I didn't know whether they would be more dedicated or less,
more knowledgable or less, or even if they were so extreme I wouldn't
want to be around them. I guess I found out it was a potpouri. I
could definately tell there were some people there who wanted to
question what activism was, and then there were those that wanted to be
activists. I fall into the camp of the latter, because I think the
goal of activism defines what it is, and it is pretty hard to win a
campaign in the middle of an identity crisis. What I found most
beneficial was the practical knowledge and advice that came from
schools that had won their Sweatfree campaigns, hearing a recounting of
their experiences, what worked and what didn't, and for what reasons
they did or did not work. I finally found the responses to the
agruments against the Designated Suppliers' Program that had been
puzzling me for so long, and have renewed my confidence that the DSP is
the solution to the collegiate apparell problem. I will no longer
fumble with words, uttering half "umms" at difficult questions. I
won't feel intimidated by the representative from Knight's Apparel or
the Free Labor Association, and despite the fact that she is supposed
to invoke sympathy, I won't be afraid of the pregnant lady from Nike.
To sum it up, I feel we have a winning strategy, that after
exhausting the traditional mechanisms the University has set up for us,
that we can still succeed. The Committee decision was not really the
end, it was just the end of playing nice. The atmosphere of the USAS
conference was rife with energy, like every person was confident of
student power. It was contagious. Coming back to Ann Arbor, I feel
innervated. Innervated by strategy, innervated by the Worker's Rights
Consortium, and innervated by the new allies and relationships we
formed with fellow activists the country over. To use the words of
Nike, I think SOLE is ready to "Just do it".

-Blase

Fall Semester!

Hot damn. It's here, it's the first full week of the semester, and I'm already contemplating hitting myself over the head with my Orgo book. The summertime lull has left and everybody's ready to kick off their classes, groups, events and endeavors. Festifall marks the buzz beginning on campus - and I was pumped to see how many people were interested in SOLE. We've got our mass meeting tonight and the group is excited to get things rolling. We've got a lot of ambition and goals to meet this semester and I definitely hope that we get some new faces in on the action. We're still planning on focusing on our Sweatfree campaign this semester - which is taking off all over the country. We've got a lot of support on campus already, and we're planning on rallying up some more. We've also got a lot of allies all over the country though USAS, as well as some great resources.
In terms of what we can do on campus, we can only build on the sweet actions that we pulled off last year. We've been brainstorming all summer for what we can do this semester and now that the year is in full swing we're totally ready to get started. SOLE has already created a name and a presence with our administrators on campus, and they can expect us to be an ongoing ordeal this semester. This is the year in which we will get the DSP passed, and change the Michigan apparel industry. More than 30 major universities have preceded us in this goal - and we're going to be in the next few. By doing this we're breaking trail for a better international garment industry, and ensuring the rights of thousands of workers. I'm excited to build on our ideas from the summer - especially with fresh input. We've got a lot to accomplish and a lot of dedication behind these goals. It's on, it's so on.

Go get em' Tigers.
Cheers -
Kaitlin