United Press International
March 17, 1999

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Twenty-eight students are staging a sweatshop sit-in inside the office of University of Michigan President Lee Bollinger. Bollinger was not in the office when the peaceful protest began today. His spokesman, Joel Seguine, says the university respects the students' right to protest and won't intervene as long as they do not interfere with UM business. Protesters say they're prepared to stay for a week if necessary.

The protesters want UM, the nation's largest collegiate products licenser, to adopt a strong code of conduct that would force hundreds of licensed apparel manufacturers to guarantee fair factory pay and working conditions. UM is one of several universities around the country embroiled in debates over the use of sweatshops to produce college-logo shirts, shorts, caps and other apparel. Earlier this week 17 colleges including Harvard, Yale, the University of Pennsylvania and Tufts agreed to work with a factory monitoring group backed by the Clinton administration. In Ann Arbor, UM and students fighting sweatshop practices have been negotiating over a proposed code of conduct for apparel-supplier contracts.

Students say they've reached an impasse in the negotiations, although Bollinger says talks are continuing. Sit-in protester Peter Romer-Friedman tells UPI his group has enough supplies for a weeklong standoff in the president's office, and that protesters won't leave until UM agrees to adopt tough measures in future contracts.

The University of Michigan earned $5.7 million in royalties last year from the sale of items bearing its logo. Protesters want the university to insist that manufacturers pay a living wage and disclose locations of all factories making their products. Romer-Friedman claims a $20 UM baseball cap made in the Dominican Republic provides $1.50 in royalties to the university but only 8 cents to the worker who produced it.

Copyright 1999 by United Press International.