Andy Koper says he and his partner Caleb Smith are just two guys who decided to make some T-shirts and voice their opinion.
But the pair of sports marketing students are also making a little money on the side with their statement in the form of $10 “I agree with Phil” shirts, created to support Nike CEO Phil Knight.
The businessman and University alumnus pulled his personal donations, including a pledge of $30 million to renovate Autzen Stadium, after the University joined the Worker Rights Consortium, a recently formed labor monitoring group.
The shirt idea also parodies last week’s “I agree with Ryan” campaign — Ryan being University football player Ryan Schmid who spoke about his Christian faith in the EMU Amphitheater on April 25.
Approximately 250 donned dark red shirts that said “I agree with Ryan” in support.
“Basically, we’re just trying to … get students motivated on the other side of the issue and support a man that has been very generous to the University in the past,” said Smith, a former linebacker for the University football team.
Koper and Smith are also fueling support for a rally today at 10:30 a.m. in front of Johnson Hall to support Knight, although their involvement was inadvertent.
“We were just walking through [last week’s] street fair and saw the ‘I agree with Ryan’ shirts and I said, ‘I agree with Phil,’” Koper said. “We just heard about [today’s demonstration] through the grapevine.”
Rally organizer Josh Tuski said he hopes University football quarterback Joey Harrington attends the rally. He and other organizers have been in contact with Harrington but have not received an official confirmation from him.
Tuski added that support for Knight’s bond with the University is the purpose of the rally.
“We’re not out to say we’re anti-WRC or anything,” Tuski said.
Koper said their shirts are also not a protest against the WRC or the protesters who spent 10 days and nights on the Johnson Hall lawn in support of the labor group.
“It’s not like ‘you did a protest and now we’re going to retaliate with a protest,’” Koper said.
Despite not being directly involved with the demonstration, business has been good for Koper and Smith. Koper guessed they have sold 60-65 shirts in the past two days to friends and people who pass by the Lundquist College of Business, where they set up shop Tuesday afternoon.
In fact, one of those shirts may have gone to Knight himself.
Koper said two Nike management representatives who were on campus happened to walk by the bench where the pair was selling shirts. They bought one and said they would deliver it to Knight personally.
However, Koper and Smith weren’t the first to display the “I agree with Phil” parody. Ironically, one of the most visible Christians on campus said he used the idea before they did. The man who offers “Free God News” on the corner of 13th Avenue and University Street, who uses only his first name, Doug, took an “I agree with Ryan” shirt last week and covered Ryan’s name with Knight’s.
But Doug said Koper and Smith have his blessing to sell their shirts, and he will attend today’s rally as well.
“Good for [them]; I hope [they] sell all of them,” he said.