(Photo: Steven Overly/The Diamondback) On Wednesday, student organizers stepped up the pressure on University of Maryland, College Park to stop doing business with Nike, which owes Honduran workers $2.5 million. USAS affiliate Feminism Without Borders covered statues on campus with aluminum foil, dramatizing how UMD’s Nike contract reflects on the university. As the Diamondback reported:
Feminism Without Borders members covered the beloved Terrapin statues in Stamp Student Union and in front of McKeldin Library with aluminum foil to protest the university’s apparel contract with Nike as part of its ongoing campaign against factory sweatshop labor.
President Mary Yanik said the aluminum foil represented “that our school’s continued licensing relationship with Nike reflects poorly on the university. It was a play on words, like a reflection.”
Students sent a letter to UMD President Dan Mote nearly a month ago informing him of the situation in Honduras and urging him to terminate the school’s licensing contract with Nike:
The letter detailed the steps the group is asking the administration to take, including immediately terminating the university’s Nike contract. The group asked for a response by Tuesday, but Yanik said they “heard nothing but silence” — a response that spurred Wednesday’s protest.
Echoing the president’s silence on the issue was Joe Ebaugh, the UMD administrator responsible for apparel licensing who also sits on the board of directors of the notoriously weak-kneed corporate-funded “Fair” Labor Association:
The university’s director of trademark licensing Joe Ebaugh was unavailable for comment.
Students efforts at UMD are part of a national USAS campaign called Just Pay It. The campaign targets Nike for refusing to pay the $2.5 million legally owed to workers at the Huger and Vision Tex factories in Honduras, where workers worked for years making Nike products and had recently begun union organizing when the factories were closed last year. The $2.5 million is legally-mandated severance pay for the workers of the two factories, who are struggling for justice despite being left jobless.
Want to get involved or get more info? Contact USAS International Campaigns Coordinator Rod Palmquist at email hidden; JavaScript is required
