The University of Wisconsin at Madison joined Duke in its decision earlier this month not to renew its contract with New Era Cap Company, but most universities have taken a more hesitant approach to the corporation's ongoing labor dispute.
New Era produces licensed apparel for about 300 colleges and universities around the country but began drawing criticism earlier this year after several reports alleged that management of its Derby, N.Y., factory pays low wages, has unsafe working conditions and practices anti-union activity. If true, the allegations could violate the codes of conduct of many universities that have committed not to lend their labels to clothing made in sweatshop conditions.
After what administrators saw as unresponsiveness to the labor situation, Duke announced Nov. 14 that it had indefinitely delayed renewing its contract that expired Oct. 31. Wisconsin made a similar decision with its contract, which also expired Oct. 31. Officials at both schools await the company's explanation of the allegations, and they have not ruled out eventually renewing their contracts. For now, however, the two schools appear to have taken the strongest stance in protest of the allegations.
"We have informed New Era that their contract will not be renewed until they fully disclose all the information on the allegations that have been raised," said Lamar Billups, assistant to the chancellor at Wisconsin, which has sent a letter to the company requesting more information about the allegations. "We don't want to hurt American workers, but they can't be hurt any more than they already are."
New Era denies the accusations of unsafe and unfair labor practices, which are based largely on a report by the Worker Rights Consortium, an anti-sweatshop group that includes about 80 universities. The report cited separate investigations by the WRC and federal agencies, such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
"New Era is obviously disappointed that Duke has taken this action, especially since their decision appears to be based in large part on false and misleading information," Tim Freer, director of human resources at New Era, said in a statement. "This smear campaign and unprecedented scrutiny is clearly an attempt to leverage the union's position as it relates to the ongoing labor dispute at New Era's Derby facility."
In renewing their contracts with New Era, many universities have cited a need for more information. Although there have been several efforts--by students, the WRC, the Big Ten athletic conference and others--to coordinate universities' responses to situations like New Era's, schools continue to act independently.
Representatives from several institutions, such as Georgetown and Northwestern Universities, said they await a follow-up report from the WRC. Some continue to send letters to New Era requesting a more detailed response.
"We've not yet had a situation that a contract has not been renewed. We haven't really gotten to that stage with anyone," said Larry Root, professor of labor and industrial relations at the University of Michigan and chair of a licensing advisory committee there. Root said Michigan's advisory committee on sweatshop issues will likely discuss New Era at its next meeting.
Root and representatives from other schools expressed hope that continuing their contracts gave them more leverage in bargaining with New Era. Michigan had the second highest apparel sales among universities last year, behind only the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with Wisconsin 12th and Duke 19th.
Duke officials suggested that not renewing sends a clear message to the company.
"I hope they will respond to our concerns in a way that will allow us to renew our contract with them, but that's yet to be seen," said Jim Wilkerson, director of licensing for Duke. "It's going to depend eventually on how they react, how they respond to the concerns we raised with them."
UNC-CH has attempted to take a moderate approach to its New Era contract, extending by 90 days the contract that was to run out Oct. 31. Officials there are looking for assurances that the company's future practices will comply with the UNC-CH code of conduct.
"Students are not taking over buildings now, but these guidelines are now a core part of how the university does business," said Rut Tufts, UNC-CH director of auxiliary services.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.