We are writing in support of the Students for Economic and Social Justice, who are asking UM to sign a conditional letter of support for the Designated Suppliers Program.
The DSP would guarantee that Griz apparel comes from suppliers who guarantee that factories meet certain basic conditions. The University finally joined the Worker Rights Consortium last year, which we fully support. However, this only occurred due to much work by the SESJ. They gained support from more than 500 UM students who signed a petition asking for UM to affiliate with the WRC and adopt the DSP; the resolution passed unanimously by ASUM.
Now, a little over a year later, we, along with many others, ask you to sign on to a conditional letter of support from UM to the DSP. This act would not put UM in danger of legal action as it awaits a go-ahead from the Department of Justice regarding anti-trust laws. In fact, 42 other universities across the U.S. have signed on; UM is not being pre-emptive by refusing to sign.
Instead, it would allow UM to be part of a working group that shapes the program. Signing this letter would also make the University of Montana a leader in workers’ rights and social justice. As citizens, we wonder why you feel this is too much to ask.
As you know, in response to two years of unresponsive action in the form of cancelled or ineffective meetings and missed deadlines, the SESJ occupied Dennison’s office. They did this as an attempt to move you, the administration, forward. Instead of signing the DSP, the university arrested these students, and later suspended them for three days, saying they violated a student code of conduct.
We are concerned that this action is meant to squash further efforts to take action against injustice by these SESJ students who showed leadership. We wonder if the university administration also has a code of conduct that makes them responsive to student/faculty/community concerns n especially when their concerns address human rights, worker rights. If not, we feel there should be.
We urge you to erase any bad marks on SESJ records and conditionally adopt the DSP. Thank you.
Missoula Women for Peace is a branch of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. The Missoula group’s members are Florence Chessin, Valerie Clubb, Nancy Erickson, Rita Jankowska-Bradley, Eileen Kennedy, Miriam Kurinsky, Andrea Olsen, Connie Skousen, Jean Pfeiffer and others.
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