If you've passed through Angell Hall or the Diag recently, you've probably seen a Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality member chained to a sewing machine. It's probably obvious that SOLE is protesting sweatshops. What is less clear is why sweatshops are still a critical issue on campus and why we, as University students, are in a unique position to affect positive, lasting change in the way our clothing is produced.

Six months ago, SOLE, in coordination with United Students Against Sweatshops and student activists nationwide, kicked off the SweatFree Campus Campaign. The campaign brings us one step closer toward eliminating the use of sweatshop labor to produce University apparel. SweatFree would require that all clothing with the University logo be made in factories that pay workers a living wage and where workers are represented by a legitimate, independent organization. We understands that many may be unfamiliar with SweatFree, and so we have tried to address those questions here today.

-How do we know that University clothing is made in sweatshops?

We have heard it from the workers themselves. Twice this past year, SOLE brought workers from Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia to campus to speak about their experiences in sweatshops. They told us how workers in their factories - predominantly women - are subjected to unpaid overtime, dangerous working conditions, toxic chemicals, sexual abuse and rape. All this while earning wages too low to provide for their families and being actively persecuted for any attempt to speak out. The University is the number-two seller of collegiate apparel in the country. Making our University SweatFree would directly impact and improve the lives of thousands of workers.

Why do we need a new code of conduct?

In the late 1990s, student activists at universities nationwide won anti-sweatshop codes of conduct, including at the University. While this was an important victory on paper, in practice it has not succeeded in stemming exploitative industry wide practices. Under the current system, in the rare cases when workers are able to organize and win higher wages and better conditions, brands just move to another (read: cheaper) factory. The SweatFree Campus Campaign is the result of extensive evaluation and cooperation among workers, human rights organizations and industry experts. SweatFree creates a "race to the top," in which brands seeking the privilege of producing University clothing must respect workers and human rights. Seven universities - including the University of Indiana, the University of Wisconsin and Duke University - have already enacted SweatFree. The University of Michigan has not followed in the footsteps of its more justice-oriented peers.

I know sweatshops are bad, but isn't a job in a sweatshop better than no job at all?

It is true that factories that produce for multinational brands tend to pay higher than average wages. What this fact conceals is that sweatshop wages are still not high enough to meet workers' basic needs. Sweatshop workers are predominantly women who are supporting entire families, not just themselves, on these extremely low wages. Claiming that sweatshops are the lesser of two evils is no excuse for exploitation, abuse, discrimination and oppression.

So how can we make the University a SweatFree University?

SOLE has repeatedly requested a meeting with President Mary Sue Coleman, yet she refuses to meet with us. Workers came from halfway around the world to ask Coleman to use her power and enact SweatFree, and again she blatantly ignored them. President Coleman and her advisors have been stalling on SweatFree for over six months. SOLE is aware that we are not the only students being shut out by the administration. While she was president of University of Iowa, Coleman had student anti-sweatshop protesters dragged out of her office and arrested by the Iowa City police. She has continued this tradition of silencing student voices at the University. Coleman courts private donations and multinational corporate sponsors while hiking tuition and profiting off sweatshop labor. It is time for students to take action and demand accountability from our administration. SOLE stands in solidarity with the students and workers who are fighting for justice on campus and around the world.

On Wednesday, SOLE is asking the campus community to participate in a one-day fast. The Fast for Justice will culminate in a rally on the steps of the Union at 5:10 p.m. SOLE will be on the Diag today and Wednesday distributing red solidarity armbands and answering questions about SweatFree. We demand that Coleman take seriously her responsibility toward the workers who produce our clothing. We demand that our University be SweatFree.

Miller is a RC sophomore and a member of SOLE.