No Sweat

Hockey and basketball victories aside, one of the biggest student wins of the winter was that achieved by student activists who lobbied the administration to join the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC)—a labor rights organization headed by Scott Nova '87 (see Jan/Feb DAM) that monitors apparel-manufacturing factory conditions in Third World nations. Student advocates took the idea to College Senior V.R David Spalding '76. He quickly convened a study group to determine if the College should work with WRC, which already had all other Ivies but Yale among its affiliates. "The administration was less oppositional than some students," says Janet Kim '13. "Libertarians on campus have defended sweatshops on the grounds they create jobs." The group—including Kim, Allison Puglisi '15, Nariah Broadus from the presidents office and licensing officer Karen Mongeon—proposed WRC affiliation to Spalding and general counsel Robert Donin, who agreed to it in addition to the Colleges longstanding membership in the manufacturers-supported Fair Labor Association. "We have agreed to disclose our list of licensees and to request from them their factories and suppliers," says Mongeon. "We are required to include in our licenses a code of conduct. They cover all College purchases of athletes' uniforms and officially licensed fan wear."