After the video broadcast yall saw of the administration forcing us to remove the minifridge that Duke SAS people brought us last Wednesday, we had a brief meeting with Dean Winston Crisp.
The administration is feeling the pressure, and has already caved by reversing Chancellor Moeser’s August 2007 decision to take the DSP off of the table completely. He has called a special meeting of the licensing committee for May 2nd (our last meeting of the year was already held April 15th), which never would have happened without our presence here. This is a victory already– but we will continue our campaign until UNC adopts the DSP and there is justice for all workers in the Carolina community!
Hey all! Greetings from day 9 of the occupation. Sorry to all the party-goers who got turned away at the door for coming late to the party… the rest of us are having a good time though:
So tomorrow (Friday) we are throwing a slammin’ dance party at our new pad… South Building. At 6pm. But you must get there early! Before 5pm.
Our house is PERFECT for it… it’s got a rotunda-esque dance floor and great acoustics.
YOU WON’T WANT TO MISS THIS.
So here’s the deal… there is going to be really tight security at our place. We are hiring police to patrol the area. But don’t feel threatened. This is only a precautionary measure to ensure everyone’s safety. Also, we are expecting HUGE attendance, so security will help keep track of numbers.
THIS IS IMPORTANT…. EVERYONE WHO WANTS TO ATTEND THIS AWESOME PARTY HAS TO BE IN SOUTH BUILDING BEFORE 5PM ON FRIDAY. We are going to close down the place after 5, and no one else will be let in. So you better get here early, because it’s going to get crowded fast.
THE DANCE PARTY WILL BEGIN EXACTLY AT 6. It will end… never?
Heck. Stay the entire weekend if you like. We have plenty of floor space for you to crash with your friends. But if you want to leave early, you can. Although, we will feel sad.
SPREAD THE WORD. Join the facebook event for it. Much love. Buh bye.
(remember to get here before 5pm… Friday the 25th)
Come join us on THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2008 at NOON on the steps of South Building to learn more about the DSP and our 3-year campaign to get the administration to adopt it.
Why are we (still) sitting in? What is the DSP? Why won’t Chancellor Moeser even consider it, even though the university’s own licensing committee recommended that it was worth considering? Why are so many students, faculty, and community members supporting the DSP?
Come hear members of SAW speak, along with visiting professor Matthew Sparke and emeritus professor Chuck Stone, among others.
Bring friends! Whether you support the sit-in or not, come talk and listen about some of the myths the administration has been spreading (the middle of the event will mark the 168th hour of the occupation; a full week).
About 10 folks have locked-in for the night to continue our demands that Chancellor Moeser adopt the DSP. We’ve had tremendous support throughout the day, from Professor Emeritus Chuck Stone to Duke Students Against Sweatshops, who came through with our first real food in a while. They’d brought us a microwave and refrigerator too, but the administration brought in a contingent of 6 police officers to force us to remove them. See more on today’s video update!
JOIN US IN DEMANDING A SWEATSHOP-FREE UNC! ADOPT THE DSP! Come out to support us!
EVERY BUSINESS DAY UNTIL CHANCELLOR MOESER ADOPTS THE DSP
5 pm dinner and a movie in the rotunda of South Building after lockdown
5:30 pm live streaming broadcast from sit-in, tune in online HERE (LINK UPDATED APRIL 22)
Chancellor Moeser is sent off to his weekend with 50 people chanting “Chancellor Moeser, you will know, union busting’s got to go! UNC Sweatfree, adopt the DSP!” He mockingly joins the protesters, dancing and clapping, then leaves for the weekend, leaving instructions to the UNC police (who have been watching students 24/7 since Thursday’s start of the sit-in) that no one is allowed to visit, enter, or drop of food during the weekend, telling his advisors not to worry, that the students will get tired and go home.
April 20, 2008: Fourth day of the sit-in, the food supplies are running out (there is no fridge, obviously, it’s very warm and the fluorescent lighting doesn’t turn off)/ spoiling. NAACP lawyer Al McSurely attempts to bring students sitting in a meal, but UNC police say that they are not allowed to let anyone from the outside bring food to the students.
April 2008: After years requesting meetings with Chancellor Moeser, after years of presenting research and gathering support from students, faculty, and staff, members of SAW and the Carolina Sweatfree Coalition begin daily letter deliveries. They received no response until April 10, 2008, the day after dozens of students at another UNC system school, Appalachian State University, began a peaceful occupation of their Chancellor’s office demanding he adopt the DSP after they were similarly ignored for two years. The April 10th letter to Chancellor Moeser included a statement from the ASU students regarding their act of civil disobedience. That Friday, Chancellor Moeser finally agreed to “meet” with students in a public debate the following week.
April 11, 2008: Nine students at ASU are arrested for their sit-in for the DSP for criminal trespassing.
April 15, 2008: Jorge Perez Lopez, the Executive Director of the FLA, visits the last meeting of the Licensing Labor Code Advisory Committee. Students, workers, and community members gather to protest his visit. Perez Lopez admits in the meeting that FLA programs accredit licensees who regularly violate UNC labor codes of conduct and that FLA programs have made no demonstrable progress towards respecting workers human rights.
31 students at Penn State who were peacefully occupying their administration building demanding Penn State adopt the DSP are arrested for criminal trespassing.
April 16, 2008: The day of the deadline to adopt the DSP, after three years of ignoring students, faculty, and staff, Chancellor Moeser finally agrees to a meeting. At the meeting, he stated several mischaracterizations about the DSP. He stated that the DSP requires collective bargaining. It does not. It requires freedom of association for a certain percentage of factories. He stated that the 42 other universities, like Duke, who have adopted the DSP, have not actually implemented the DSP as only a certain percentage of the licensees’ factories are DSP factories. That is exactly what the DSP policy document lays out. Perhaps if Chancellor Moeser had read the policy document in the three years since the proposal was sent, we would not have had such an unproductive meeting.
9 students at the University of Montana are arrested for trespassing in a peaceful sit-in demanding U of M adopt the DSP. Their cell phones are confiscated to prevent them from further organizing.
April 17, 2008:
After it became clear that the UNC administration was unwilling to engage in honest and respectful discourse about the human rights concerns of students, faculty, and staff, after three years during which workers have been losing their lives and livelihoods for manufacturing UNC licensed apparel and daring to stand up for their rights, 10 UNC students began a nonviolent occupation of the lobby of South Building, 10 feet away from Chancellor James Moeser’s office. Though he cannot see the workers who suffer to make our Carolina apparel, he will see us every day until he adopts the DSP.
