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Article
Florida Student Tent City Shines Light on Sweatshops
FEATURE STORY | Special Report
Sunshine on Sweatshops
The Nation
July 2, 2002
by Jenny Stepp <http://www.thenation.com/directory/view.mhtml?handle=stepp_jenny>
It's been more than three months since twelve Florida State University students
were arrested for setting up a "tent city" in front of the school's
administration building. But the uproar over the arrests, and the continuing
presence of a group of sweatshop activists camped out on an FSU quad, have
left an indelible mark on this campus known more for holding national titles
in football and "party school" rankings than for student protest
activity.
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The tent-city protest was intended to end a long debate with the administration,
which refuses to join the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), a sweatshop monitoring
agency backed by the protesters and faculty, which passed a resolution supporting
the students' position. Instead, the arrests marked the beginning of a long
standoff between the administration and student protesters, who now find
themselves living in tents and sleeping bags to protest both the sweatshop
issue and the administration's refusal to tolerate the earlier protest--well
after their classmates have gone home for the summer.
The decision made by President Talbot D'Alemberte to arrest the students
and move the protest to the school's far less conspicuous free-speech zone
has drawn criticism from activists throughout Florida. But former First
Amendment attorney D'Alemberte is dismissive of accusations that the school
has violated the students' free-speech rights: "I've read the First
Amendment pretty carefully, and I don't see any mention of tents."
When it comes to discussion of membership in the WRC, D'Alemberte is similarly
hostile. Florida State was one of the founding institutions of the Fair
Labor Association (FLA), which has been blasted by student and labor leaders
for its inclusion of vendors like Nike on its board of directors. Critics
say this organizational structure has resulted in a weakened code of conduct
and an inability to independently monitor the companies who sit on its board.
Student activists like those at FSU believe the FLA is more of a public
relations front than an actual monitoring agency.
This past April the FLA made policy changes that attempt to create a more
independent monitoring system. For example, it will no longer allow companies
to select which factories will be monitored and when the monitors will perform
their inspections, as they did under the old system. But Scott Nova, executive
director of the WRC, believes these changes have absolutely no impact on
the importance of the WRC. "The WRC exists because there was a need
for an independent labor-rights watchdog organization within the college
apparel industry," Nova said. "Regardless of what procedural changes
are made [at the FLA], there is always going to be a need for an independent
watchdog agency."
D'Alemberte claims the WRC is an ineffective monitoring tool looking for
violations that amount to a "needle in the haystack" among the
college apparel industry. He dismisses the organization as "Amnesty
International-lite" and believes it has a "hidden agenda to stigmatize
foreign labor in order to push a traditional agenda of protectionism."
But student protesters are suspicious of D'Alemberte's free-trade reasoning.
Richie Kent, one of the summer campers, claims D'Alemberte is "looking
after the business of Nike and other contractors instead of thousands of
workers." Likewise, Jim O'Rourke, an English professor and faculty
adviser to the FSU chapter of United Students Against Sweatshops, says that
various press releases and statements from the president and the athletic
director have given him the sense that "the pressure [not to join the
WRC] is coming from the athletic department."
Sit-ins, protests and campouts have been required at many of the 100 universities
who have now joined the WRC, and in this respect, FSU is no different. But
the consequences of Florida State joining the WRC could be much more substantial
than those at many of the other member schools, which might explain why
the conflict has become so protracted at Florida State. Pendas says the
possible impact of FSU joining is "huge.... We're such a big university...and
we're in the South, for Christ's sake!" He predicts a "domino
effect" that would result in several other Florida universities joining--perhaps
most importantly, the University of Florida, another football powerhouse
with millions in licensing revenue pouring in each year.
July 2 marks day 100 of the tent city. Despite the intense summer heat,
the dwindling food and supplies and the apparent standstill in negotiations,
the students don't seem ready to leave. They anticipate a resolution to
this issue in the fall, but until then, they'll be camped in their tents,
passing out information on Nike and the WRC to incoming students who are
getting their first look at FSU and the student movement that has taken
hold of their campus.
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