I am so mad at the state Board of Higher Education for its decision about labor codes of conduct. The University can no longer demand anything from companies it does business with, except that they follow the law. Geez, that’s responsible. What a way to set an example for students.
So the University will now cut off ties with the Worker Rights Consortium and the Fair Labor Association. Great. Let’s have no standards at all!
I’m not just mad because we lost. Student activists and sweatshop slaves lost big time, that’s true. But I’m more intelligent than that.
I’m mad because this decision happened without public input. And the state board knew that and did it anyway.
If the state had engaged in a discussion about what role state universities should have in determining whom they do business with, and then we still lost, I wouldn’t be so upset. But instead, the board made a decision, which is strictly political, without public input and called it “politically impartial.”

This “neutrality” is the part that bothers me the most. The board said that state universities must do business in a “straightforward and politically impartial manner” — as though that would equal neutral action. But it doesn’t.
By removing from the equation concerns about how businesses operate, we are making a very strong political statement. We’re saying, “All that matters is money. Money, money, money.”
And that’s sick. And it’s wrong.
Economics likes to term political concerns “externalities,” as though they don’t mean anything. But they do. The decisions we make with our money are always political, and the “externalities” always have real ramifications. If we buy Nike shoes, we’re saying we think it’s acceptable for Nike to hire a crappy factory that mistreats its workers, and Nike does nothing to change the situation. That’s very political.
University President Dave Frohnmayer, the state Board of Higher Education, Chancellor Cox and every elected politician in Oregon should feel shame. Because the message they’re sending to young people across the state is that nothing matters but money. Make a lot of money, by any means necessary. Maybe that should now be, “Buy any means necessary.”
How do we expect young people to grow up with a sense of morals, ethics and humanity if we tell them that those concerns are irrelevant? What are we teaching our youth?
Everyone involved with this decision should be ashamed. The rest of us should be outraged, and we should speak out. Otherwise, we’re acting “politically impartial,” and then we’re guilty, too.