Word: sweatshop
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Since we began in the fall of 1997, the Progressive Student Labor Movement's (PSLM) No Sweat Campaign has focused its energies on the Harvard administration, trying to convince them to adopt a strong policy against sweatshops. We targeted Harvard because, through its licensing program, the University is responsible for contracting for more sweatshop labor than any number of consumers we could have contacted directly, and also because as students we have standing to complain about the actions of our university...
...course, it is beyond Harvard's power to end sweatshops alone. Only in concert with other universities will we be able to exert enough economic pressure on the garment industry to change their practices. As colleges nationwide contemplate anti-sweatshop policies, Harvard can either lead or follow the national movement...
...both. Only Harvard has had a high-ranking official working nearly full-time on the issue--Allan A. Ryan of the Office of General Counsel. Last spring, on the day of a large rally outside University Hall, Harvard became one of the first schools to promise that its anti-sweatshop policy would require licensees to publicize the locations of their overseas factories. Over the summer, Harvard spearheaded a five-school, $250,000 pilot monitoring program, the first university initiative actually to visit a sweatshop...
...Harvard does not envision a plan such as the WRC, what role would full disclosure play in its eventual policy? It would be odd for a policy to bring the public as far as the locked factory gates and no further. Anti-sweatshop advocates know how to get through factory gates, so full disclosure in itself does increase the information available to the public...
...does Harvard really want to further the climate of antagonism and distrust that rules contemporary sweatshop debates? This would be the result of a policy that reveals factories to independent organizations, yet bars them from the decision-making process. Harvard, as a rich, non-profit institution, can afford to take a chance on an idea that puts the lauded "openness" of our global economy to work for those who are still waiting to see its benefits...