In regard to clothing, your biggest worry shouldn't be what to wear. If you are like so many others on campus who proudly display MSU's moniker, you should be most concerned with where your clothes were made.
About a hundred of your fellow students voiced their worry about that issue on Friday at the Administration Building. Their purpose was to convince MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon to join the Worker Rights Consortium, or WRC. Joining the consortium would help the university enforce manufacturing codes of conduct that ensure apparel that bears the university's name is made in factories that respect the rights of their workers.
The considerable showing was another motion in what has been a more than five-year movement by the Students for Economic Justice, the Coalition of Racial Ethnic Students, the Council of Progressive Students and other campus groups to make the university establish standards on where and how its goods are produced. Penn State University and MSU are currently the only schools in the Big Ten that do not have an agreement with the WRC.
Since Simon is the only official commanding the power to enter into an agreement, it can be assumed that the rallying campus groups are banking on Simon being more open to such a commitment. Former MSU President M. Peter McPherson never signed onto the agreement, although MSU is already a member of the Fair Labor Association - another workers' rights group that has been criticized for putting corporate interests first.
So far, fresh blood in the president's office has improved the campaigning students' chances of seeing their changes made. Simon has been friendly in her reception of their ideas, and students say she plans to present information about joining the WRC during the next Board of Trustees meeting on April 8.
Simon should consider the opinions of her contemporaries, but she cannot forget that she, ultimately, has the power to make this pact a reality - no matter what they feel.
Although it is in some respects a business, the university is far from a price-driven corporate monster. Socially, it represents more. It's a place where creative and progressive thought is the bread and butter of its practitioners. MSU should be at the forefront of promoting better workers' rights.
Joining the WRC is more than a public relations move to benefit the university's image. It is more than just caving to student's demands. The choice to distribute clothing not made in sweatshops is a moral decision. It shows an aptitude to care about humanity and not profit margins.
Here in East Lansing, it's probably difficult for any of us to envision the deplorable conditions, excessive hours and grossly insufficient pay that are a reality to sweatshop workers. Still, taking steps against these practices is something MSU must feel compelled to do.
Anyone attached to MSU or East Lansing - students, alumni, visitors - will recognize that and remember it in years to come.
