The University has vigilantly demonstrated its commitment to social responsibility, as has recently been demonstrated by the release of the slavery and justice report. The report, which pivots around the University's unpleasant confrontation with its involvement in the Atlantic slave trade, brings into focus the momentous importance of truth, apology and the acknowledgement of past wrongdoings in confronting an institution's entanglement in the infringement of civil liberties.
Yet for all of its concern with acknowledging transgressions against human rights in its past, the University has left us wondering if the same concern applies to violations in the present.
The University is remaining silent as the human rights of the people who make Brown-logo clothes are trampled. Much as the University failed to stand up for human rights during the slave trade, Brown is refusing to take a stand against the exploitation of the workers who make our clothes.
Currently, the companies the University contracts for our uniforms and Brown-logo apparel are abandoning the few factories that have made progress in improving the conditions of their workplace and outsourcing production to factories where workers' rights are non-existent. Instead of supporting alternatives to sweatshop exploitation, Brown is remaining silent while workers that have fought for their human rights are laid off and replaced by a more easily exploitable workforce.
The vast majority of workers employed in apparel factories are plagued by low wages that fail to meet basic day-to-day needs, by excessively long working hours, by forced and unpaid overtime, by physical and verbal abuse and by a total lack of representation. By subscribing to University-logo apparel made under such circumstances, Brown plays the role of facilitator in the negation of civil liberties and the dehumanization of workers.
Keeping this in mind, we wonder: Should Brown-logo garments on proud display at the Bookstore be seen as a denial of present-day violations of human rights or Brown's proud display of its willingness to support them?
Following the logic of the slavery and justice report, Brown should acknowledge its utilization of sweatshop labor and take part in the international action against poor working conditions by adopting the Designated Suppliers Program. The DSP works with universities and sweat-free factories to raise the substandard working conditions of the garment industry. In exchange for university apparel orders, factories are required to comply with labor laws, provide workers a living wage and recognize their rights to organize.
Over thirty universities throughout the country have taken a stand for workers' rights and adopted the DSP - which uses university buying power to support factories with fair working conditions and decent wages. Meanwhile, Brown has neither openly voiced support nor signed on to the DSP, even as its creators have painstakingly attended to all of the legal concerns that might have hindered the University from participating.
If Brown truly desires to set the standard for ethical behavior and ensure legitimate progress in the realm of worker empowerment, it should not hesitate to espouse the DSP program.
Masha Perelyubskaya '10, Jennifer Phung '09, Sarah Adler- Milstein '07.5, Francesca Contreras '10, Will Emmons '09, Alex Campbell '10, Becky Fish '09, Nicole Carty '10 and Kenneth Morales '09 are members of Brown Students Against Sweatshops.
