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Student protestors arrested |
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Tuesday, 15 April 2008 |
 | Doerr
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by JILLIAN SWORDS
News Reporter
University Police arrested six student members of the United Students Against Sweatshops Friday evening, ending the group’s 50-plus hour sit-in in the basement of the B.B. Dougherty administration building.
After deliberating for almost two hours behind closed doors with other members of the administration, Vice Chancellor for Student Development Cindy A. Wallace said in a statement to the group prior to arrests that the administration felt it had been patient in allowing the students “the allocation of ASU police officers and other resources in a manner we can no longer allow."
 Appalachian State University students participate in a United Students Against Sweatshop rally Wednesday on Sanford Mall. Photo by Holt Menzies
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The students were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and trespassing when they refused to vacate the building. Roughly 25 other students were participating in the sit-in but left when directed by police.
The students followed the officers that were leading the handcuffed protestors to the vans, chanting: “J-U-S, J-U-S-T-I-C-E. What, we want, is justice in our factories.”
The students were later released on $300 bail a piece.
“We all had designated roles,” senior political science major Matthew H. Cronheim said. “We decided a
while ago who was going to go and who was going to stay [to be arrested].”
USAS was protesting the university administration’s lack of support for the Designated Supplier’s
Program (DSP), a program with the international non-profit Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) that
USAS members say would ensure all paraphernalia sold in the University Bookstore is manufactured
under fair working conditions.
Chancellor Kenneth Peacock was out of town for the majority of last week and unavailable to speak
with the group.
Senior interdisciplinary studies major Kelly L. Refalo was a participant of the sit-in.
She explained the WRC keeps track of which factories have problems and brings them up to code.
This can actually result in job loss for workers, however, because once a factory fails with the WRC,
brands will oftentimes stop using it.
“With the DSP, brands have to stay with the factories,” Refalo said. “This is where the legality comes
in though, because under free trade, you’re supposed to be able to go wherever you want.”
USAS has been in negotiation with the administration on the matter since last semester.
 Senior interdisciplinary major Billy E. Shweig is arrested and led away by authorities after police requested the protesters leave. Photo by Holt Menzies
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Chief of Staff for the Chancellor’s Office Dr. Lorin A. Baumhover said the university reviewed the DSP for several months and, after receiving legal counsel, declined to sign.
The DSP was awaiting approval from the U.S. Department of Justice at that time, Baumhover said.
It’s request for approval was eventually withdrawn, so it has still failed to receive the antitrust
clearance the university wants before endorsement.
“In looking at [the DSP], we concluded that we were going to stay with the current organization that we
have,” Baumhover said. “We feel that there’s enough guarantees in preservation of people’s rights,
wages, treatment practices and so forth. The [DSP] is a concept, it’s not an organization… It’s too
ill-formed for us to sign on to.”
He added that university administrators have met with USAS four times in the past year and a half,
twice with legal counsel and once with the Chancellor.
“I know there’s a notion that we refuse to meet with them and that’s simply not true,” Baumhover said.
University Attorney Dayton T. Cole also noted that the university is a member of the Fair Labor Association and has been since at least 2000.
In addition, companies who produce licensed Appalachian State apparel must be FLA members and
abide by FLA’s Code of Workplace Conduct.
The sit-in began at 11:45 a.m. Wednesday as the Campus Anti-War Network leant support to other
USAS members in leading a rally on Sanford Mall.
Wallace informed USAS Friday evening that any further use of university building for similar activity
would make them subject to arrest.
Cronheim said the group needed to consult to plan their next step, but that USAS is going to pursue
further action until their demands are met by the administration.
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