Stanford students protest Nike

Nike declined to make an official statement addressing their complaints, but distributed informational pamphlets explaining Nike's policy. The demonstrators were protesting the company's alleged mistreatment of employees in Southeast Asia.

Associate Drama Professor Rush Rehm, who organized the dozen protesters, accused Nike's public relations department of glossing over the issues.

"They spend a lot of money looking slick," Rehm said.

Rehm said that Nike can afford to pay Tiger Woods millions to wear a Nike hat, yet the company pays many workers a bare minimum wage.

Three Stanford College Republicans were on-site in counterprotest.

"We decided to make signs and launch a counterprotest in support of Nike and what we believe are fair and even generous practices," said junior Ryan Parks, president of the College Republicans.

Parks' group had signs that read "Nike Saves Lives" and "Amnesty International Starves Children."

"Surveys that say workers are disgruntled and unsatisfied have been shown to be faulty, since they did not take a scientific random sampling of workers and asked leading questions at the end of the work day," Parks said.

"Nike provides over 500,000 jobs worldwide," he said. "When Nike enters a nation to manufacture products, the wages increase and the poverty level decreases."

According to a Nov. 22 article in The New York Times, over 450,000 Southeast Asian workers, many of them teenage girls, are reportedly paid $1.60 a day. In addition, according to an internal study recently leaked by a disgruntled Nike employee, the workers in a Ho Chi Minh City factory are exposed to dangerous levels of carcinogens.

Nike was ready for the accusations with a pamphlet titled, "Nike Now - Informed Consumer Update." According to the pamphlet, "Nike was the first company to have its Code of Conduct monitored by an independent third party, the international accounting firm Ernst & Young.

"When factories can't live up to (Nike's) Code of Conduct, as in the case with four Indonesian subcontractors, Nike terminates their contract," the pamphlet states.

"There is an enormous difference between what is officially represented and the facts," Rehm argued. "This type of protest is going on in many places across the nation, even in colleges with larger athletics departments than Stanford."

According to student protester Jill Shenker, a junior, the group is asking Stanford to terminate its contract with Nike or negotiate until the company can guarantee a living wage for its workers without forced overtime, as well as provide a healthy work environment, an end to worker harassment and the right for all its workers to join free, independent unions.

None of the student protesters has had direct contact with workers. Darlene Damm, a senior who spoke to workers during an internship with the World Bank in Jakarta last summer, said, "Nike jobs are better than no job at all.

"A lot of the people were appreciative. However, the conditions could definitely be improved. The world won't be right until they are."

Damm also pointed out that workers aren't allowed to demonstrate in many of the countries in Southeast Asia without government permission.

Al Levin, assistant director of the Career Planning and Placement Center, said companies at the fair were not screened.

"The career fair was open to any employers that wanted to attend," Levin said. "We appreciate student opinions on the issue."