U. Wisconsin protesters halted by campus cops

By David Den Herder

and Jacob Wheeler

Daily Staff Reporters

MADISON, Wisc. - While anti-sweatshop activists in Ann Arbor stormed the office of LSA Dean Shirley Neuman on Wednesday without any police resistance, Wisconsin campus police officers used pepper spray to deter protesters from storming the Bascom Hall office of University of Wisconsin at Madison Chancellor David Ward.

Campus police, who were dispatched before the protest began Wednesday afternoon, prevented the students from occupying Ward's inner office, but sweatshop protesters remain camped in the president's reception area and in the Bascom foyer. The student occupiers said they do not plan to leave the office until Ward meets their seven core terms.

Ward agreed Wednesday to disaffiliate the university from the Fair Labor Association, a White House-sponsored coalition of human rights groups and corporations to monitor labor conditions in that collegiate apparel industry.

Protester Marc Brakken said the FLA's policies and decisions are negatively influenced by corporate interests.

The University of Michigan is one of only a few large schools nationwide not to endorse the FLA.

The Wisconsin protesters said they want Ward to endorse the Worker Rights Consortium, a labor monitoring policy primarily developed by students.

"The university must become a full participant in the WRC for a four-to-five-year period," Brakken said.

Activists said the WRC offers a better alternative to the FLA because students and universities are involved in essential planning, such as the inspections of factories producing merchandise for universities.

Brakken said protesters wanted to ensure Wisconsin takes an active, not passive, role in the issue of sweatshop labor in the collegiate apparel industry.

Brakken said the students protesters in Bascom Hall have been in regular contact with their Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality activists in Ann Arbor who are occupying the LSA Building.

Should either Wisconsin or Michigan administrators endorse the WRC, they would become the first major university with great apparel licensing clout to do so. Five smaller schools, including Brown University and Haverford College, have already allied themselves with the consortium.

Wisconsin protester David Ernesto Alvarado said anti-sweatshop activists here and at Indiana University will combine with SOLE members to script several protest terms in identical language, including the demand that their respective universities join the WRC.

But University of Wisconsin spokesman Patrick Strickler stressed that Wisconsin administrators and students are working toward the same fundamental ends.

"There is nobody here that wants apparel or other merchandise with our name on it that arise out of a sweatshop," Strickler said.

Ward was unavailable for comment, due to prior engagements. He said Wednesday that he would return to address the students in Bascom on Monday night.

"I am communicating with other presidents and chancellors about a collective effort to join the WRC, but under mutually acceptable terms," Ward told students, according to a university statement. "This process will take several days."

Strickler defended the police presence in Ward's office, citing a student rally earlier in the day as "good evidence that people would take the protest to a new level."

Protesters said between five to seven police officers waited in the chancellor's office. Shortly after 4 p.m. on Wednesday, as students tried to wedge the door open with a wooden plank containing exposed nails from a broken railing, the officers shouted at students to back off or face retaliatory action.

"I tried holding up a notebook to protect my eyes from the burning," protester Carl Innmon said.

Activists retaliated by discharging a fire extinguisher at the officers. Witnesses said nobody was seriously injured in the face-off, but at least one protester fled to wash out his burning eyes with snow.

"The only time we had a problem was when they became unpeaceful. I know that the board with the nails came very close to injuring officers," said Sgt. Joseph Hornbeck of the campus Department of Police and Security. "It's one thing to block off a common area and prevent business its another thing to have people in someone's office."

The Madison protesters' "terms now stipulate that people responsible for using chemical agents against nonviolent student protesters receive disciplinary action and the university must issue a public apology," Brakken said.

endorse the Worker Rights Consortium, a labor monitoring policy primarily developed by students.

"The university must become a full participant in the WRC for a four-to-five-year period," Brakken said.

Activists said the WRC offers a better alternative to the FLA because students and universities are involved in essential planning, such as the inspections of factories producing merchandise for universities.

Brakken said protesters wanted to ensure Wisconsin takes an active role in the issue of sweatshop labor in the collegiate apparel industry.

Brakken said the student protesters in Bascom Hall have been in regular contact with Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality activists at the University who are occupying the LSA Building.

Should either Wisconsin or Michigan administrators endorse the WRC, they would become the first major university with great apparel licensing clout to do so.

Five smaller schools, including Brown University and Haverford College, have already allied themselves with the consortium.

Wisconsin protester David Ernesto Alvarado said anti-sweatshop activists here and at Indiana University will combine with SOLE members to script protest terms in identical language, including the demand that their respective universities join the WRC.

But University of Wisconsin spokesman Patrick Strickler stressed that Wisconsin administrators and students are working toward the same fundamental ends. "There is nobody here that wants apparel or other merchandise with our name on it that arise out of a sweatshop," he said.

Ward was unavailable for comment, due to prior engagements. He said Wednesday that he would return to address the students in Bascom on Monday night.

"I am communicating with other presidents and chancellors about a collective effort to join the WRC, but under mutually acceptable terms," Ward told students, according to a university statement. "This process will take several days."

Strickler defended the police presence in Ward's office, citing a student rally earlier in the day as "good evidence that people would take the protest to a new level."

Protesters said between five to seven police officers waited in the chancellor's office.

Shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday, as students tried to open the door with a wooden plank containing exposed nails, the officers shouted at students to back off or face retaliatory action.

"I tried holding up a notebook to protect my eyes from the burning," protester Carl Innmon said.

Activists retaliated by discharging a fire extinguisher at the officers. Witnesses said nobody was seriously injured in the face-off, but at least one protester fled to wash out his eyes with snow.

"The only time we had a problem was when they became unpeaceful. I know that the board with the nails came very close to injuring officers," said Sgt. Joseph Hornbeck of the campus Department of Police and Security.

"It's one thing to block off a common area and prevent business, it's another thing to have people in someone's office," he said.

The Wisconsin protesters' terms now stipulate that "people responsible for using chemical agents against nonviolent student protesters receive disciplinary action and the university must issue a public apology," Brakken said.