In a blunt and authoritative manner, Dennison told the students what they didn't want to hear: UM won't support an anti-sweatshop labor program called the Designated Suppliers Program until the U.S. Department of Justice declares the program does not violate antitrust laws.
Visibly disappointed and frustrated, the students voiced their concerns as clearly as they knew how.
Dennison explained that UM also is concerned about human rights issues, which is why the university agreed to support the Worker Rights Consortium's vendor code of conduct last May. But UM won't throw its support behind the Designated Suppliers Program until the Department of Justice clears the way.
“You are asking me to take a pre-emptive step and I won't do that,” Dennison said. “The answer is no.”
Dennison ended the meeting abruptly, and when he left the gathering in the University Center, the students shook their heads and vented their frustration aloud.
Friends and other members of the student group arrived to lend their support and the assembly turned into an impromptu meeting on what to do next.
Katie Pritchard said they won't give up.
Kallevig said she won't give up either, even as she faces unknown consequences for being among the nine students arrested last week for taking over Dennison's office when he was on a campus visit to China.
Cited for trespassing and disorderly conduct, the students got the attention they were seeking to raise the profile of the issue, Kallevig said. What they want is for UM to support the Worker Rights Consortium's efforts to enforce university codes of conduct and monitor factories that are paid to manufacture university apparel.
“It just makes sense to sign on to the Designated Suppliers Program,” Kallevig said. “There's no reason not to - it's not illegal. Dozens of universities have looked into it and support it.”
Brandeis University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Georgetown University and the University of California, Berkeley, are among the institutions that publicly support the program, according to the Worker Rights Consortium's Web site at www.workersrights.org.
“We will continue the campaign,” Pritchard said. “And now, we hope local politicians will help push it forward and reach out to the community.”
As part of the campaign, the students gave Dennison a collection of 18 letters written by UM faculty urging the university to be a leader in the pursuit of socially just policies, to sign on to the Designated Suppliers Program and to drop charges against the students who held the sit-in protest in Dennison's office.
The students are required to make a court appearance by May 1.
Dennison did not comment about their status or if UM planned to drop the charges, but said after the meeting and on the way back to his office: “What we learned from the 1960s is we learned every action has to have a consequence. If it doesn't, it had no moral value, either.”
Reporter Betsy Cohen can be reached at 523-5253 or at bcohen@missoulian.com.
Comment online
To comment on this story, go to Western Montana 360.
|
 |
 |
Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)