Two student groups staged a sit-in protest Monday at the Administration Building in their latest attempt in a five-year campaign to encourage MSU to join a union for workers' rights.

About 35 members from Students for Economic Justice, or SEJ, and Movimiento Estudiantil Xicano de Aztlan, or MEXA, sat in the lobby in front of administrators' offices and held signs that read "Justicia Ahora", or "Justice Now," and "No Justice, No Peace, Join the WRC!"

"We want the university to take some responsibility for workers' rights," SEJ member and international relations sophomore Maggie Corser said as she made signs before the protest.

"We want to send a clear message to the administration that there is a lot of student support for the (Worker Rights Consortium)."

The WRC is a monitoring body that investigates the labor conditions under which university clothing is made. MSU already is a member of the Fair Labor Association - another workers' rights group.

SEJ members say the Fair Labor Association represents corporate interests because panels that investigate human rights violations are composed of corporate representatives. The WRC's panel is made of labor experts.

The university president has the final say on which group to join.

On Jan. 28, students from the two organizations met with MSU President Lou Anna Simon and Lee June, Vice President for Student Affairs and Services, to discuss their positions on the WRC.

June said it was the first of several future exploratory meetings with the students of both groups.

"Discussions are going on," June said. "The president indicated an openness to possibly joining, assuming we can work out some additional issues that we need to discuss."

MEXA member Claudia Gonzalez said the meeting with the president was positive.

"We sat and talked; she was very interested," said Gonzalez, a social work sophomore. "She was already thinking about joining the WRC."

Gonzalez said the two groups now have about a month to draft a code of conduct for MSU's involvement in the WRC.

In the SEJ and MEXA code of conduct, they state their hope is that MSU will conduct its business in a "socially responsible and ethical manner."

"We feel the WRC is an effective organization for protecting workers' rights," said SEJ member Maggie Ryan, an international relations and political theory and constitutional democracy senior. "Most schools in the Big Ten are already members of the WRC, and we feel the university should take a stand against sweatshop labor."

Gonzalez said students should be guaranteed their university apparel was not made in sweatshops, and the groups will continue their protests.

"We're not going anywhere," Gonzalez said. "We're going to stay until our positions and conditions are listened to."