Small SAS rally calls for factory addresses

The anti-sweatshop rally outside the Allen Building drew more reporters than protesters Tuesday afternoon.

Members of Students Against Sweatshops hoped the publicity would force the administration to play hardball with companies that refuse to release the addresses of the factories making Duke products.

Administrators, meanwhile, seemed more than willing to step to the plate.

After a few flopped chants, the handful of protesters demanded that the University have a complete and accurate list of all the Duke factories by March 3. The current draft list includes 314 of 409 companies and does not give street addresses for some of the factories.

The current draft list is inadequate, said Trinity sophomore Jonathan Harris, an SAS member. "This is nowhere near full public disclosure," he said.

But Executive Vice President Tallman Trask stepped to the bullhorn just a few minutes later to announce that Duke had already issued an ultimatum to its delinquent licensees. He said companies must tell Duke by Thursday whether they plan to honor their contracts, which required a list of all factories by Jan. 1.

If they intend to supply the information, companies will have 15 days to gather the addresses and send them to the University.

"So in 17 days we should have information from all licensees," Trask said. "Any company that hasn't given up that information will be terminated from the right to make Duke products."

By the end of the event, more than 100 students had signed petitions urging the administration to follow through on its commitment to students. Petitions will be available around campus this week.

Still, the low turnout was remarkable, even to Trask, the protest's ostensible target.

"It's a little disappointing," he said. "It's an important issue."

Kristina Schafer, a Pratt sophomore who stayed for most of the rally, said the event was poorly publicized. "I think the situation might not seem as dire to students as it once did," she added.

Harris acknowledged the small crowd, but, he said, "It's not like we were trying to take over the building again."

In fact, the rally was not designed as a confrontation, but as media event to force the administration to publicly commit to a new deadline.

Student activists are frustrated that Duke has not fully honored the deal they reached at last winter's Allen Building sit-in, during which students occupied the administration building for 31 hours.

According to that deal, the University had one year to gather factory addresses from all companies and to terminate its licenses with those that refused to provide the information.

There has been substantial haggling between administrators and students about Duke's exact deadline. The sit-in deal lists Jan. 30, but Duke sent a letter to companies calling for factory lists by Jan. 1. Students now claim Duke, like the companies, should be bound by the earlier date.

But whatever the deadline, it is clear that the date has passed and the list is incomplete.

"Our deal with students was Jan. 30, and we got 70 percent of it. And 90 percent of that was correct," Trask said. "[Their] March 3 deadline is a date we already set. I think we're all sort of in agreement about where we're heading."

Jewett said that despite this general agreement, it is still important for SAS to hold events that challenge the administration and hold officials publicly accountable.

"This was a necessary, and probably tardy, event...," she said, noting that SAS also failed to take a hard stance on the deadline. "We're actually calling ourselves to task as much as the rest of the administration."

Trinity sophomore Snehal Patel, an SAS member, helped lead the rally, but was engaged in another form of protest: a 48-hour hunger strike to show his support for the student sit-in at the University of Pennsylvania. "I could really use some water," he said.