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SAS members hold informational 'camp-out'

About 15 Students Against Sweatshops members and one UA professor camped out under the black Tucson sky last night - their only light provided by the four ATM machines in front of the Administration building.

Next to the green canopy - surrounded with painted cloth SAS signs swaying in the wind - the workers' rights supporters sprawled out in their sleeping bags. A collection of water jugs, two coolers, one filled with fruit and vegetarian instant meals, surrounded the yellowish-grassy area.

Kent Walker, a philosophy and political science junior and a new SAS member, spent the night for the first time in support of the UA joining the Worker Rights Consortium.

"Their action last spring showed that something could really be done domestically," he said. "Being an American and at the UA, I believe you're partly responsible for the conditions of the workers."

Returning to the "College of Worker Rights" site after showering and holding a sleeping bag and clothes, he said he wasn't too worried about the next few days.

"A lot of needs have been met," Walker said, referring to the donated food and water.

SAS plans to sleep on the Administration's building lawn again tonight and pack up tomorrow afternoon when they end their informational session.

The members "came and went" throughout the evening, some returning from classes, others going to the computer lab to catch up on homework, said SAS president Lydia Lester.

Borrowing the light from the ATMs to read her audiology notes, psychology and speech and hearing sciences senior Molly Snow described her experience of sitting-in for ten days in UA President Peter Likins' office lobby last year as "intense." Snow said she isn't going to miss her classes this time, even though she is showing her support.

"The university money shouldn't support sub-standard conditions," she said.

UA law professor and Senate Task Force for Monitoring Labor and Human Rights Issues Andrew Silverman has been involved in various types of activism for the past 25 years.

"It's the least I can do for sweatshop workers - sleeping outside, I should do more than that," he said sitting up in his sleeping bag.

Lester said she realizes they will be taking precautions being outdoors in warmer weather for the next few days.

"We'll try to make sure to take breaks and not get overheated," she said.