Faculty Senate looks critically at Nike deal

"It's very easy to sell yourself, and for the university to sell you," said Sen. Marlys Witte, a UA surgery professor. "I believe this is a mandatory faculty issue, a mandatory student issue."

Likins and Livengood spoke to the Senate about the possibility of signing a multi-million-dollar contract with Nike that would furnish the UA's 18 Division I sports teams with athletic apparel emblazoned with the company's trademark "swoosh."

Likins told the Senate he will apply strict moral standards when deciding which companies the University of Arizona should associate with.

"There has to be a category of corporation that we refuse to do business with," he said. "We have to look case by case - making sure we're consistent."

Nike has been accused of forcing its predominantly female employees in East Asian factories to work 12- to-16-hour days for less-than-livable wages while breathing in noxious glue fumes and other carcinogens.

When Likins flew to Oregon last month with Arizona State University President Lattie Coor, Nike CEO Philip Knight assured them the company is following its code of conduct and is not mistreating its workers.

"I have been very concerned about our responsibility not to advantage a corporation that abuses its employees," Likins said.

Livengood spoke strongly in favor of the Nike deal and characterized student and community criticism as an overreaction.

"It's not, as has been suggested, selling our souls," he said.

But senators were still concerned that UA athletes would be forced wear the swoosh even if they are morally opposed to it.

"I have a feeling athletes have very little voice on this matter," said Sen. Andrew Silverman, a UA law instructor.

Sen. Roy Emrick, a UA physics professor emeritus, asked if an athlete could request a uniform without the Nike logo under the proposed contract.

"That has not been discussed," Likins said.

"If you asked our student athletes, most of them would go to Nike in a second," Livengood said.

Some senators said they thought the Nike contract issue is too complicated for Likins to handle alone.

"This is hugely difficult," said Sen. Thomas Davis, a pharmacology professor. "We need a committee that looks at these issues."

The Senate allowed Students Against Sweatshops co-founder Monica Wilson a few moments to speak at the end of the meeting, during which she lauded senators for taking a critical look at the Nike deal.

"Everybody was really concerned," Wilson, a German studies and anthropology senior, said after the meeting. "I'm glad they brought it to this forum."

Senate Presiding Officer Jeffrey Warburton, a theater arts associate professor, said he would look into forming a committee to scrutinize the Nike deal.

In other business, senators were outraged over a new Teaching Incentive Program proposed by state Joint Legislative Budget Committee Director John Lee. Lee's proposal, released Friday, would allocate 40 percent of tuition rate increases to a faculty incentive fund.

"We are totally opposed to this," said Faculty Chairman Jerry Hogle, a UA professor of English.