Activisim on Campus

         Spending so much time discussing social justice issues in class has led me to look at the world around me through a different lens. I've always been interested in social justice (guess why I'm a social work major!), it's just been more active in my mind than ever before. Looking around our campus, there are social justice issues right here at U.T. Particularly, I've been thinking a lot about the campaign by U.T. Students Against Sweatshops. In the past few weeks this group's years of activism have been coming to a head, and the work they are doing is inspiring to me as a student of social work.
     The group is protesting the University's refusal to sign onto the Worker's Rights Consortium, a third party group that works to ensure humane and equitable treatment of workers. Currently U.T. is working with the Fair Labor Association (FLA). The national branch of Students Against Sweatshops cites that the FLA has "A weak code that fails to provide for women's rights, a living wage, the full public disclosure of factory locations, or university control over the monitoring process" Much of the FLA's funding comes directly from the companies, such as Nike, whom they are supposed to be monitoring, creating a clear conflict of interests. As such a huge distributor of brand merchandise (think of the University co-op; the sea of burnt orange at a football game) it is pretty important that we consider the ethics of it's production. The administration's reluctance to sign with the WRC, a group who has been proven to uphold a higher standard of treatment for workers, is a threat to the integrity and ethics of our school.
     Working conditions for laborers over seas is a big issue in our time. Recently, factories producing Apple products in China have come under public scrutiny for inhumane treatment of workers. We fought in the 17th and 18th centuries for the rights of American workers. We abolished slavery and created regulations and fail safes to prevent abuse of labor. Now, as more and more of our production moves over seas, it is important that we concern ourselves with the working conditions of those producing our good across the globe. We can't continue to congratulate ourselves for advancements in working conditions when it becomes apparent that the abuse has simply traveled overseas, out of our back yards, where it is much harder to see.
     I admire the UT SAS's efforts to create change on both a local and global level. Their tactics have included protests, sit-ins, picketing, dissemination of information, videos, and more. Some members of SAS actually traveled to one of the factories producing college apparel. The most recent demonstration by the UT branch of SAS ended in the arrest of 18 of our students. Their willingness to put themselves in harms way for the sake of their cause is admirable. SAS is a great example of purposeful social action. I think we could learn by watching their tactics and dedication. It is very easy to talk about social justice, but it takes courage and mindfulness to work for it.