SMS
RSS feeds
Reddit
Newsvine“I do not feel [the University] adequately answers the question of why Stanford has not joined the Worker Rights Consortium, which monitors working conditions in the companies that contract with its member schools.” The preceding sentence does not originate from the Sweat-Free Coalition. It was written by Calvin Miaw '03, then a sophomore, and printed in the Daily on April 19, 2001. Since critics of the current campaign believe that President Hennessy simply needed more time before joining the WRC and Designated Suppliers Program, the aforementioned letter demonstrates the importance of historical memory.
As alumni, we wish to communicate our own perspective on the recent campaign to end sweatshop contracts at Stanford University. Some of us worked on a range of social justice issues while we were on campus while others did not. Some of us continue to work for change, whether in the office of an elected official, policy advocacy group, think tank, community non-profit, or through another vehicle. Others work in fields such as international development and telecommunications. Some of us pursued advanced degrees in fields ranging from Anthropology to Law. But regardless of our paths during and after Stanford, we feel compelled to express our support for the Stanford Sweat-Free campaign.
Apparel manufacturing in the Global South involves millions of mostly teenage women in unmonitored factories who labor under horrendous working conditions that violate numerous international standards and laws. Due to their lack of power, these workers are often at the mercy of factory owners who can, for example, withhold wages without consequence. The WRC and DSP were established precisely to address the role of Universities as apparel contractors. The Sweat-Free Coalition presents an important proposal which is based on sound research from a legal, economic, and policy standpoint. The WRC and DSP were created by experts in the field, academics, university administrators, and students to improve conditions in the industry while preventing dislocation and lay-offs. The DSP, in particular, represents the logical next step in the evolution of sweatshop monitoring, and provides the only solution to current limitations in monitoring practices which minimize improvements in the industry.
The Sweat-Free Coalition follows the very best tradition of Stanford students using time-tested tactics to obtain pragmatic approaches to serious problems. Many of us participated in a sit-in at the Stanford Hospital in 2001 which increased the wages and benefits of janitors. In 2003, we led a hunger strike to establish the University Code of Conduct to govern Stanford labor practices (similar to the current situation, President Hennessy’s response was to convene an advisory committee whose recommendations he simply ignored until the hunger strike this year). Many of us participated in the 1989 occupation of the President’s office calling for increased minority tenure, ethnic studies, and a tuition freeze, which led to 55 arrests. Likewise, in 1987, students occupied an administration building to demand that Stanford divest from apartheid South Africa.
Student campaigns often receive negative reactions from critics who forget that a decision-maker never concedes anything without pressure. Critics always invoke the cliché of privileged, naïve, and misguided student activists when they have not bothered to read the campaign literature or attend information sessions. We, on the other hand, express full confidence in and applaud the important work of these students. Like many of the students in the Sweat-Free Coalition, some of us engaged in changing this institution because we live with the voices and experiences of the families and communities we come from. Those struggles also determined which issues we focused on and motivate all of us now to express our support.
Sincerely,
Susan Sandler
Class of 1986
Sandra Viera
Class of 1987
Stacey Leyton
Class of 1988, MA '91, JD '98
Amanda Kemp
Class of 1988
Miguel Marquez
Class of 1989
Cathy Ruckelshaus
Class of 1989 (J.D.)
Dave Brown
Class of 1990
Julie Padilla
Class of 1990
Colin Hampson
Class of 1991, J.D. '94
Ethan Kaplan
Class of 1998
Eli Naduris-Weissman
Class of 2000
Oeindrila Dube
Class of 2000
Le Tim Ly
Class of 2001
Angad Bhalla
Class of 2003
Mónica Henestroza
Class of 2003
Adrianna Hernandez-Stewart
Class of 2003
Kuusela Hilo
Class of 2003
Hiro Iwanaga
Class of 2003
Orlando Lara
Class of 2003
Owen Li
Class of 2003
Calvin Miaw
Class of 2003
Malavika Mohanan
Class of 2003
Meghana Reddy
Class of 2003
Jordan Peralta
Class of 2004
Leticia Ramirez
Class of 2004
Allen Riddell
Class of 2004
Ian Slattery
Class of 2004
Sara Calderon
Class of 2005
Max Felsher
Class of 2005
Ronak Kapadia
Class of 2005
Timmy Lu
Class of 2005
Anna Mumford
Class of 2005
Hai Binh Nguyen
Class of 2005
Caroline Picker
Class of 2005
Kate Raven
Class of 2005
Eric Shih
Class of 2005
Kate Skolnick
Class of 2005
Kelly Wells
Class of 2005
Kiyomi Burchill
Class of 2006
Bonnie Johnson
Class of 2006
Allende Palma/Saracho
Class of 2006 (M.A.)
Linda Tran
Class of 2006
Miguel Unzueta
Class of 2006 (Ph.D.)