Research and education are how the University will likely confront the issue of labor abuse in coming years, according to leaders of the administration, faculty and student activists.
After more than a year of occasionally raucous debate between students and administrators that included an encampment by student activists on the lawn of Johnson Hall and a mandate by the State Board of Higher Education that effectively ended the issue, those behind labor monitoring say they are still committed to ensuring the University’s role in the global labor debate.
“What I concluded after the study of this issue is … we need to embed our concern about human rights into our curriculum,” said Professor David Frank, director of the Honors College and the chairman of the University Senate ad hoc committee that developed the University’s Licensee Code of Conduct and recommended joining the Worker Rights Consortium.
The University had been negotiating for membership into the WRC and had become a member of the Fair Labor Association, a labor monitoring group with industry representatives on its board, after several weeks of demonstrations by students. In February of this year, however, the State Board of Higher Education quietly passed a state policy that would make it illegal for universities to do business in a politically partial fashion. The policy effectively ended any debate on the University becoming a member of a labor monitoring group.
Frank said that because of the policy, he envisions a center to study human rights in a global perspective. This center would bring together elements from various academic departments in a fashion similar to the University’s Center on Diversity and Community, which should become a fixture on campus in a few years and coincidentally also came about because of a sit-in at Johnson Hall.
The University administration has already pledged $100,000 towards CODAC, and the student government also gave $200,000 from its overrealized fund to the project. Frank said he hopes the University will make the same kind of pledge of support toward a center on human rights.
Dave Hubin, University executive assistant president, said the idea of a center is the right kind of approach for the University in handling such issues as labor monitoring.
“I know that there’s administrative support for that,” he said. “To study a crucial issue like that is exactly what the University should do.”
However, when asked about funding the center, he said it was far too early to speak in terms of how much and when. He said the administration has engaged in only the most preliminary of talks about a center for the study of human rights, and it has not begun any formal planning work.
One of the students heavily involved during the protests was Chad Sullivan. Graduating with a double major in history and music, Sullivan said as he leaves the University, he is a little discouraged at how the issue ended, but he added that he does not expect it to die completely.
“I’m not really optimistic about anything happening at all,” he said. “Students need to change or modify that state policy.”
Sullivan said students need to work on getting the state board to include the language that universities can add human rights and environmental conditions to their business contracts.
He said he is encouraged by the recent no-sweat rally that showed there is still some student interest and enthusiasm for bringing about change.
“What has been happening with the no-sweat zone is really promising,” he said.
If students can’t change the policy, Sullivan suggested they should look to creating a statewide code of conduct that the seven universities of the Oregon University System can apply to merchandise contracts.
“That’s really not much too ask, it’s really not that controversial, and it’s the best we can do,” he said.
Following his graduation, Sullivan said he will be traveling to Indonesia to see firsthand the conditions that factory workers deal with. He said he hopes this will bring back more information for activists here in Eugene.
“I know in the past some of us activists have acted like we know everything, and I know that’s not the case,” he said.
University Merchandising Director Matt Dyste said that even without being able to be a member of labor monitoring organizations, the University will still be able to be active in ensuring that companies contracted to produce its merchandise follow working-condition standards.
He said the University will continue to monitor information provided by the WRC and FLA, and it will work continually with licensees to ensure they understand what the University expects.
“Our hope is both of those organizations will begin their monitoring within the year,” he said.
While the University will no longer be a member of the monitoring organizations, Dyste said it will continue to strive for a “cooperative” effort with its licensees to ensure that basic rights are not abused.