Many students who fought for the University to join the Worker RightsConsortium didn’t expect to hear Nike CEO Phil Knight’s announcement thathe was pulling his personal contributions from the University as a resultof its joining the labor monitoring group for a one-year contract.
Many of the protesters who spent 10 days, and sometimes nights, at JohnsonHall said they are frustrated by how much stock people are putting into theUniversity alumnus’s decision. But other students who have been watchingthe issue unfold since the protest began on April 4 said Knight’s monetaryimportance should not have been ignored by the administration when theyjoined with the WRC.
The protest “was never about making Phil Knight withdraw from theUniversity,” Human Rights Alliance member Chad Sullivan said. “It was aboutworkers being treated fairly.”
When ASUO President Wylie Chen heard the news, he was more surprised thanangered.
“People say this is a big blow. What is it going to be a blow to?” he said.
“Our academics will stay the same. It’s sad that people are focusingattention at one person’s money on campus.”
HRA member Sarah Jacobson agreed and said that while the protesters deservethe credit for the University decision to join the WRC, they are notresponsible for Knight’s decision. She added that the decision fuelsaccusations that Nike abuses its workers who make University licensedproducts.
“For Nike to be so anti-WRC, it begs the question: What do they have tohide?” Jacobson said. She had only been in Eugene for a few hours beforehearing the news. Soon after she helped pack up the tents at theadministration building she went to Washington, D.C., to the InternationalMonetary Fund meeting protests and a workers’ rights meeting in Mexico.
Those who participated in the protest, including members of studentgovernment, had been critical during the protest of Frohnmayer’s reluctanceto sign the WRC without hearing from a variety of University committees.
But on Monday night, the general consensus was one of support foradministrators for holding their ground as rumors of Knight’s decisioncirculated last week.
“This is a victory if Frohnmayer and the University stand by the decisionthey made and not succumb to corrupt corporate influence,” Sullivan said.Mostly, they were critical of Knight’s reluctance to use the manyopportunities he had to discuss the matter with University administrators.
“He has turned it into a lose-lose situation,” ASUO Vice President MitraAnoushiravani said.
ASUO President elect Jay Breslow said Knight’s decision was fueled bystudent activism but the administration ultimately decided its fate, onethat should remain despite the amount of money lost.
“Is it tragic? No. Will it cripple the University? No. We’ll still be agreat school,” Breslow said.
But freshman English major Derek Bell, who walked by the protest each dayon his way to class, said he thinks the situation is more severe thanBreslow and other protesters make it sound.
The WRC decision “was a slap in the face to Phil Knight. It’s a privilege,not a right, to accept his money,” Bell said.
Senior Caleb Smith, a former Oregon defensive lineman, called Knight “agreat guy to talk to” who has been very dedicated to both athletes andstudents as a whole.
“To have something as drastic as this come about is disappointing becausehe always had every intention of operating in good faith with theUniversity and doing everything he could to help us,” Smith said.
Senior geology major Greg Miller said he suspected Knight might pull moneyout of the University even before rumors began last week. He said thatalthough he agrees that worker rights overseas are important, theUniversity should have taken into consideration those students who will beaffected without Knight’s monetary contributions.
“The student body shunned him. We don’t respect him for [the good] he’sdone,” Miller said.
But Breslow said that, ultimately, the right decision was made despitelosing the multi-millions the Nike CEO could have provided the Universityin the future.
“We don’t know what has changed. We won’t know the fallout for a while,” hesaid. The administration “made the right decision, and they’ll have to dealwith it.”