Being at a Jesuit university is truly an honor. We study business, finance, social work and medicine, among many other things. Though these fields are diverse, one thing that is enforced throughout is the idea of social justice.
We are encouraged to broaden our horizons by studying abroad in fascinating places, such as Spain, China and El Salvador. I, personally, along with a growing number of students, chose to go to El Salvador. There, the reality of poverty in the world is clear and prominent, whereas, in the United States, it is hidden and masked, under our glistening skyscrapers and impressive shopping malls. The unfortunate thing about these malls is that they are just one way in which the United States is tied to developing countries like El Salvador. While Americans buy clothing like it is their job, people around the world suffer horrific injustices while making these clothes. I have friends in El Salvador who have worked under these conditions, and I have also seen the awful conditions in which they live. All their work in the sweatshop does not provide the means for them to better their situation. Fortunately, we have an opportunity to make a difference.
For the third time, the SGA Senate has passed the Apparel Manufacturers Code of Conduct in hopes of becoming part of the Worker Rights Consortium. The WRC is a non-profit organization created by college and university administrations, students and labor rights experts to fight worker exploitation. Basically, the WRC aims to enforce manufacturing codes of conduct adopted by colleges and universities that say they do not want clothing and other goods bearing college and university names made in factories where the workers' rights are not respected.
In order to be part of this organization, all SLU would have to do is pay one percent of the previous year's licensing revenue. With that money, the WRC sends monitors to the factories where SLU apparel is made, as a response to allegations made by workers, and reports their findings back to the University. If allegations are found to be true, then action will be taken after that to correct the problem.
Currently, there are 135 colleges and universities affiliated with the WRC, and 13 of them are Jesuit institutions. The University of Notre Dame, University of Illinois, Georgetown University, Marquette University and Harvard University are all part of the WRC. Why SLU is not yet part of this organization, especially being a Jesuit university that promotes social justice, is the big question.
We can do something, though, and we must do it quickly since the semester is coming to an end. In order to ensure SLU's affiliation with the WRC, we must clearly represent the ongoing student support of this endeavor.
One means of doing this is signing the WRC petitions circulating in classrooms and throughout campus. Also, and perhaps even more importantly, you can encourage any student organization you are involved with to become a member of the Coalition for Affiliation with the WRC. While gathering signatures represents specific individuals, a coalition of organizations will represent the ideals and expertise of a collective group.
Through the involvement of justice, diversity and academic organizations we will communicate the array of concerns that find relation to the plight of sweatshops. The more support there is for this cause, the better the chance that this time around, the proposal can be passed.
For additional information, please visit the WRC Web site at http://www.workersrights.org or contact Charlie Crowley, the president of Students United Against Sweatshops, at [email protected]. Also, if your group would like to become part of this coalition, inform Charlie Crowley via e-mail.
The extent of sweatshops' presence in the world today is simply horrendous. The fact that SLU has had the opportunity to take a stance against this social injustice, and has not taken it yet, is even worse. This time, let's take the opportunity to stand against sweatshops and fulfill the mission of our Jesuit University. Let's join this group of prominent and respectable colleges and universities. Through this action, we will prove to the world that SLU is a university that fights for social justice and is willing to use a tiny portion of its resources to do it.
Ellen Klopp is a junior in the College of Social Service.
