Holding signs, chanting and participating in a satirical version of a children's game, about 100 students rallied in front of the Administration Building on Friday afternoon in the final stages of a five-year effort for MSU to join the Worker Rights Consortium.
The consortium, or WRC, is a group of students and university administrators who work to make sure no university clothing is produced by companies that have violated human rights.
During the rally, students chanted about fair labor, read poems about sweatshops, waved signs and banners and played a brief game of Simon Says, referring to WRC negotiations with MSU's president.
The rally was organized by students from Students for Economic Justice, or SEJ, the Coalition of Racial Ethnic Students, the Council of Progressive Students and Movimiento Estudiantil Xicano de Aztlan.
Zoology senior Dianna Miller held a sign that read "Justice Now! Join the WRC," during the rally. Miller, who is not a member of any of the student organizations involved in the protest, said it's important for all students to support the WRC campaign.
"Groups have been working a long time for the WRC and administrators have been ignoring their demands," Miller said. "It finally seems like they're making progress."
MSU alumna and SEJ member Sarah Mcdonald said the demonstration was held to send a clear message to administrators and the MSU Board of Trustees that students support the university joining the WRC.
Mcdonald said there's been more open dialogue with MSU's new president, who wants to be informed on worker's groups and issues.
"Right now, there's a bigger chance to get on the WRC than ever before with (MSU President Lou Anna K.) Simon," she said.
The demonstration occurred a day after student groups had their final meeting with Simon to discuss the WRC and present her with four main points within a code of conduct that MSU must agree to before joining the WRC. The main points include women's rights and organizing rights.
"Almost every other Big Ten university has the four points of the code of conduct that we're asking for," SEJ member Maggie Ryan said.
The groups have been meeting with Simon since about a month after she was named MSU's 20th president in January. But groups have been encouraging MSU officials to join the WRC for about five years.
The university 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.
MSU spokesman Terry Denbow said the university has been listening to student concerns throughout WRC negotiations.
"It's important that we continue to talk and to listen and to continue to seek shared goals," Denbow said.
Simon will inform student groups of her decision by April 1 and will present information about the possibility of joining the WRC at the next MSU Board of Trustees meeting on April 8.
