Though the University has taken steps in the past year toward potentially adopting the Designated Suppliers Program, certain details of the DSP have not yet been finalized. Administrators from schools across the country are reviewing a recent proposal for the program and "are watching the developments and revisions closely," according to Vice President for Administration Walter Hunter.
The DSP "is a system for protecting the rights of the workers who sew university logo apparel," according to a Sept. 29 document describing the program that was drafted by the DSP Working Group and sent to administrators at various colleges and universities. The working group has been meeting since March and "is comprised of representatives of universities that have publicly articulated support for the DSP and expressed a commitment to work together to move the program forward," according to the document.
The most recent description of the DSP distributed by the working group states that schools adopting the program must buy university logo apparel from factories that have been "determined by universities, through independent verification, to be in compliance with their obligation to respect the rights of their employees." These rights include "the right to organize and bargain collectively" and the right to receive a living wage. In order to comply with the program, schools are also required to pay prices to these factories that are "commensurate with the actual cost of producing under applicable labor standards, including payment of a living wage."
Schools adopting the DSP must "maintain long-term relationships with suppliers" and ensure that factories "receive sufficient orders so that the majority of ... production is for the collegiate market," according to the Sept. 29 document.
In December 2005, Hunter formed a committee at Brown made up of students, faculty and administrators to discuss the DSP. He plans to meet with the committee soon to discuss recent developments in the DSP, he wrote in a recent e-mail to The Herald. These developments were reported in a conference he attended last week in Washington, D.C. Hunter wrote that he has been attending meetings of the DSP Working Group "as an observer."
Elizabeth Huidekoper, executive vice president for finance and administration, explained that discussions relating to the DSP "are happening much more at a national level... to see ultimately what the definition of the DSP is going to be."
Hunter wrote that there are about 20 schools that are part of the working group, adding that he thinks "most other schools in the country are reviewing the proposal and are watching the developments and revisions closely."
"My understanding," he wrote, "is that none of the fourteen schools with the largest licensing programs have announced a willingness to join the program."
Since it began meeting in March, the working group has been trying to "identify key stakeholder concerns about DSP and to develop ways to address these concerns," according to the Sept. 29 document. The group's efforts "have included six face-to-face meetings, including a special day-long forum with more than forty licensees at Georgetown University, as well as several conference calls and numerous other discussions."
According to Hunter, "one concern raised is whether the program might violate antitrust laws." He added that the working group will be consulting with the U.S. Department of Justice on the issue, though "it will probably take many months to get an answer."
Other questions that have been raised about the DSP, as cited in a "Summary of Modifications" that was also sent by the working group to various university administrators on Sept. 29, include issues relating to unions, the selection of factories and the length of schools' relationships with suppliers.
Brown's Student Labor Alliance campaigned heavily for adopting the DSP last year, according to Will Emmons '09, a member of the SLA.
Hunter's DSP committee included a few members of the SLA last year, but Emmons, who was not on the committee but spoke to these members at SLA meetings, said SLA members stopped attending committee meetings because they thought the committee "was a stalling tactic on the part of the administration." He said SLA members value the program because the DSP ensures that "factories with more just conditions have reliable business."
Huidekoper told The Herald that the economic cost incurred by the University for adopting the DSP would not be a significant issue when determining whether to adopt it. She said the Brown Bookstore might have to raise prices and could end up losing money on products bearing the Brown logo, but she noted that these potential ramifications are "not the big thing."
She stressed that the University has taken so much time to consider the decision because "we want to make sure that it really does help the workers."
