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USAS
demands fair trade during national action week
By Heather Shaffer
Fair trade and fair working
conditions were the themes associated with National Action Week
April 11 to April 18. Events were sponsored by the UIS Chapter
of United Students against Sweatshops (USAS).
 One
of the main events of National Action Week was a presentation of
the Collateral Damage tour on Tuesday, April 14, sponsored by
Witness for Peace. Blanca Velázquez, Dave Lippman, and the
Reverend Grayland Hagler discussed the continuing U.S. occupation
in Iraq and U.S. foreign policies in countries such as Mexico and
Nicaragua.
Lippman poked fun at U.S.
occupation in Iraq with his song entitled, “When there is oil I’ll
be there.”
Hagler said that U.S. officials had
to change the name of Operation Iraqi Liberation after they
realized that the acronym spelled oil. “They had to change it so
we didn’t catch on. This is an example of the orchestrated
attempts to dumb down our society,” he said.
Hagler is determined to see
President Bush voted out of office in November. “I told my
congregation that I would not trim my beard until George Bush is
out of office. Help me get a shave by taking Bush out of office,”
he said.
When asked by an audience member
who is the best candidate for president since both John Kerry and
George W. Bush may be easily influence by large corporations,
Hagler responded, “Kerry is moveable and does not already have a
machine set up. All I know is we cannot take four more years of
Bush.”
Velázquez, one of the founders of
the Workers Support Center, spoke about the unfair conditions of
workers in sweatshops in the Puebla region of Mexico, which is
considered the capital of jean production for export to the
United States.
Twenty different brands are made in
the Tarrant Factory in Puebla—the largest is Levi and the second
largest is the company that makes jeans for Express.
According to Velázquez, women in
that factory have reported being taken advantage of. “One woman
reported that at times they were forced to stay in the factory
from 7 a.m. to 7 a.m. the next morning in order to meet a quota,”
she said.
The Workers Support Center
attempted to contact the brands produced at Tarrant about the
unfair working conditions in which their jeans are being
produced. “The Latin American representative from Levi came to
the factory and met with active and fired workers. She said she
was touched and discouraged by the conditions,” said Velázquez.
Levi pulled their jeans from production in the Tarrant factory
after the visit.
Velázquez said that many of the
other brands have not been as cooperative as Levi. “Tommy
Hilfiger said they were not interested in what is happening in
Puebla,” she said. However,
Levi was helpful in providing contact information of the other
brands.
Also during National Action Week,
USAS members Dana Goodrum and Carrie Bauer presented material on
“Sweatshops and Globalization” Wednesday, April 15 at the Peace
Center.
On Thursday, April 16
Senators Durbin and Fitzgerald were scheduled to speak about CAFTA
at the USAS sponsored “Say No to CAFTA” Rally. However, the event
was cancelled as the Senators were unable to attend.
The delegation of
eleven students and faculty members that visited Nicaragua in
February spoke about their recent trip at the Peace Center on Friday, April 18. The
group discussed their experiences in the country as well as the
effects of unfair trade on the economy and people of Nicaragua.
Throughout the week,
USAS had an information table set up in the Public Affair Center near the Food
Emporium. At their display table, USAS was giving away samples of
fair trade coffee. According to Carly Hawkins, UIS Junior and
USAS Treasurer, the coffee they were selling can be bought at
Jewel and other stores in the Springfield area. “People just have
to look for the fair trade symbol,” she said. Fair trade coffee
can also be purchased at Starbucks, upon request, starting April
21.
They were also selling fair trade
chocolate throughout the week. The fair trade chocolate was
purchased by USAS in New York, but it can be purchased at the
website
www.serrv.org, which also sells many other fair trade
products.
Two petitions USAS members
developed were circulating campus during National Action Week.
One was a petition to get EFollett, the company that owns the UIS
Bookstore, to buy UIS logo apparel from a women’s sewing
cooperative. The cooperative is called “Comamnuvi” and is located
in Neuva Vida, Nicaragua. It is the only one
of its kind in the world, according to Goodrum, which provides an
alternative to sweatshops. All clothing is made under fair
working conditions.
According to Goodrum, “We have
taken all steps specified by Efollett to try to get these t-shirts
purchased but the company is still not cooperating. We are
starting this petition to let them know that students really do
care about where their clothing is made.”
The second petition developed by
USAS intends to inform legislators about the number of people
opposed to CAFTA in order to stop its passage in Congress.
Holding a silver gun in the air,
Lippman declared, “Remember it’s not what you’re country can do
for you but what your country can do to other countries.” Through
the events of National Action Week, USAS attempted to raise
awareness about how U.S. foreign policies are affecting other
countries.
University Hall on Schedule
By
Scott Shelby
When classes start in the fall,
many will be in the new $31.5 million University Hall. Michelle
Green, UIS director of marketing, said the price tag reflects
costs to completion. “That’s everything”, Green said. Included
in the figure cited by Green are the costs of paint, carpet,
furniture, hardware, and electronics.
Perhaps most important to the
campus community, Cheryl Peck, university relations, told the
Journal that the new building will be ready for its tenants in
late June and the move will take place over the summer of 2004.
“We have every expectation that the building will be finished on
time,” Peck said.
Serious money builds a serious building: the new classroom
building will be four stories tall, 129,000 square feet and will
house a mix of classrooms, labs and administrative offices. The
remaining funds needed to complete the Building were made
available from the Capital Development Fund in the fiscal year
2003 budget, signed into law in June, 2002.
 The
spacious new building will be “the most technologically advanced
building on campus”, Green said. The “smart” classrooms “are
technology enhanced classrooms equipped with a variety of
digital/analog computer equipment and presentation systems.
Typical smart classroom setup
includes a network computer, projection system, electronic
whiteboard, document camera (allows you to show 3-D objects, text
from a book or 8 x 11 sheet of paper to the whole audience), and
DVD/VHS players.” Forward looking students, faculty and staff
will want to know that the wireless standard the new building will
use is 802.11g.
The entire College of
Business and Management will be moving into the new building, along with the
following programs from the
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences:
Psychology, Communication, Computer Science, English, History,
Math, Individual Option/Liberal Studies, Sociology/Anthropology,
Philosophy, African American Studies, Women's Studies, and the
college's administrative offices.
“The Offices of Admissions and
Records, Registration and Financial Aid will also move to the new
building, and will be the only administrative offices located
there, apart from academic program offices”, Green said. These
key facilities will enjoy a large reception area on the first
floor. The Office of Student Affairs will not be moving, she
said.
Vice Chancellor for Student
Affairs, Dr. Christopher Miller said the tenant list is “entirely
appropriate. The primary mission is the academic mission, and
providing a centralized location for students to study, learn,
grow and develop is essential.” He said the Office of Student
Affairs did not feel left out when they were not included, because
the move will allow them “perhaps even more space in the old
building to carry out Student Affairs functions.”
Green said the administration
“plans to make the quad the academic hub of the campus. This will
mean reconfiguring the entire area; sidewalks will be reconfigured
to make more sense, so that one will be able to move up and down
campus easily. Parking lot G is gone, and that area will become
green space.”
This academic hub is intended to
better serve student and faculty needs, and the UIS community
seems excited to have a chance to improve the services offered at
UIS in the new purpose-built facility.
Cynthia Thompson, the Director of
Student Life, is also in favor of the move and echoes Dr. Miller’s
aspirations to better serve students “in a more relaxed
atmosphere, away from the principal administrative offices.” Lori
Giordano, who works in the Office of Admissions and Records “could
not be more excited about the move to the new building!” Julie
Atwell, the English departmental secretary is “looking forward to
everyone being together and to the added convenience for
students.” See you there! |
