By
Shana Heiser
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Possible protest in near future
Members of Students Against Sweatshops plan to question UA President Peter Likins about his decision not to leave the Fair Labor Association at today's UA town hall meeting.
"We figured since it's a forum for him to share students' concerns, we would show up and voice our concerns," said Rachel Wilson, SAS spokeswoman and psychology graduate student.
On Aug. 7, the University of Arizona Human and Labor Rights Task Force recommended to Likins that he withdraw the university from the FLA.
Likins has met with the task force but has opted to remain a member of the FLA, of which the UA is a founding member.
In June, the UA became a member of the Worker Rights Consortium and Likins has stated that he supports dual membership.
Ben Graff, Associated Students president, said SAS has a right to be at the open forum, but he hopes the environment stays calm and in a question-and-answer format.
"SAS has concerns that are very important to them, and they're welcome to be at the forum just like any other group," Graff said. "The forum could prove to be very productive on any topic as long, as members of the audience and participants in the town hall are willing to keep the event calm, collected and appropriate."
There is no schedule of topics for Likins to address during the meeting, and "they are just kind of routine things," said Sharon Kha, UA spokeswoman.
Likins' unwillingness to leave the FLA has upset some members of SAS because he "violated the commitments," said Lydia Lester, SAS spokeswoman and linguistics junior.
"The idea is to keep the pressure on him and let him know that we're not backing down," Lester said. "We haven't decided on anything yet, we're just trying to find a good strategy for what to do next."
Though no official plans have been made by SAS, Wilson said an act of protest may be used to voice their disapproval of Likins' decision to remain in the FLA.
"We're consulting with other SAS chapters nationally. It doesn't appear that he's planning to withdraw," Wilson added.
The town hall meeting is today at 11:30 a.m. in Kiva Auditorium in the Education building.
