An anti-sweatshop student group that wants MSU to switch its labor-monitoring organization will meet with administrators today to discuss its campaign.
"We're trying to get their attention again," Students for Economic Justice member Tessa Fojut said, as she and other group members handed out fliers Friday morning in front of Cowles House - home to MSU President M. Peter McPherson.
"We're not worried about making them mad," Fojut said. "They know exactly what we want."
The group posted around 20 signs on the president's front lawn, urging the university to end its affiliation with the Fair Labor Association and join the Worker Rights Consortium.
McPherson said communication between administrators and the student group was necessary and their demonstration on his front lawn was "the nature of a college campus."
The two nonprofit, Washington-based organizations monitor labor practices of foreign factories producing goods imprinted with college and university logos.
MSU is affiliated with the Fair Labor Association, but SEJ members say it's not as effective as the Worker Rights Consortium.
"The (Fair Labor Association) hasn't really done anything," social work senior Jane Kilmer said. "We don't understand why we're paying the (labor association) to do the job the (Worker Rights Consortium) is doing."
McPherson said he was uneasy about the extent and effectiveness of both organizations.
"I'm not sure either organization is having as much impact as I would have liked," he said.
McPherson said the association isn't conducting enough audits. On the other hand, the consortium doesn't seem as active as it was about one year ago, he added.
He said the university would continue monitoring both organizations while paying fees to the Fair Labor Association - 1 percent of its profits from apparel and goods with the MSU logo. The consortium's fee is the same.
Today's meeting between SEJ and administrators will be the fifth time the group has asked the university to join the consortium in five years, Fojut said.
No-preference freshman Christa Root noticed McPherson's sign-littered front lawn as she walked to class Friday morning.
"It's pretty bold," she said. "It definitely gets their point across."
But Root said the group would be more likely to make progress if they had more members at demonstrations. Five SEJ members campaigned in front of McPherson's house.
"They're going to need a bigger following if they want something to happen," she said.
