Search

ARCHIVES
CONTACT US
WORLD NEWS

Labor rights task force nominees are submitted

UA President Peter Likins and members of Students Against Sweatshops have submitted their nominees for an advisory task force - one result of the 10-day sit-in last April in Likins' office lobby.

The task force will advise the president on matters regarding labor and human rights issues associated with university licensing contracts.

In addition to the task force, the agreement requires that each of the university licensees publicly disclose the addresses of all factories by April 2000.

SAS Nominees Ari Anand - SAS member, graduate student, interdisciplinary program in comparative cultural and literary studies Tim Bartley - SAS member, graduate student, sociology Shamini Jain - SAS member, staff, program in integrative medicine Lane Van Ham - SAS member, graduate student, contemporary cultural and literary studies Karen Anderson - faculty, history professor Doug Canfield - faculty, Regents English professor Andrew Silverman - faculty, law professor Kathy Campbell - community member, involved with Teamsters, Catherine Chaput - graduate student, English Chris Ford - community member, environmental activist Eduardo Quintana - community member, Machinists union Carolyn Trowbridge - community member, Registered Nurse at Tucson Medical Center Likins' Nominees Richard Henderson - anthropology professor Emeritus Ron Oaxaca - economics professor Andrew Silverman - law professor Josue Limon - graduate student, Mexican-American studies Steve Lansing - anthropology professor Maria Rodriguez - student, Mexican-American studies Arthur Silvers - public administration faculty member Anna Alonzo - anthropology faculty member Mette Brogden - graduate student, Udall Center Tim Finan - anthropology faculty member Edella Schlager - public administration and policy associate professor (No response yet) Ann Yellott - citizen, conflict mediator (No response yet)

Likins and the SAS each submitted a list of 12 nominees for the task force to Larry Schooley, faculty senate presiding officer. The Executive Committee will then select six people from each list.

Law professor Andrew Silverman, who was part of the sit-in negotiations, was the only person listed by both parties.

"Clearly the task force is one of the major items that resulted from the discussions and negotiations between President Likins and the SAS," Silverman said.

Silverman said he was involved in the sit-in from beginning to end, and has a strong history of social activism.

"I am honored at the nomination," he said. "This is an important issue to me, an issue that I've dealt with in various forms for a long time."

Avery Kolers, spokesman for SAS, said it is likely Silverman will be nominated to be the chair of the task force.

"I'm really happy with our nominees," he said. "Certainly it is a victory for us."

The SAS nominees include four of their own members, three faculty and five people from around the Tucson community. Kolers said SAS did not set a definite ratio between the different groups.

Most of the nominees from the president's list have accepted the nomination. However, Schooley said the Faculty Senate has not received a response from two nominees.

Likins' list includes one community member, three students, and eight faculty members.

All task force nominees are required to have a track-record of labor or human rights activism or an academic interest in those areas, Kolers said.

The task force will be finalized by August 30, and will meet once a month.

Tim Bartley, nominated by the SAS, said his role as a negotiator in the sit-in will definitely be a helpful experience if he is selected to serve on the committee.

"The task force is one of the big things to come out of the sit-in," he said. "It will be a big part of the university policy on sweatshops."

Bartley, a sociology graduate student, said the SAS nominees are good choices and the group is happy with the list.

"It is not going to be a simple solution," he said. "The task force is a crucial step in the right direction, but it is obviously not going to do everything. We have a long fight ahead of us."

Kolers said the SAS will continue to be active this year, even with the creation of the task force.

A series of workshops about the global economy and labor and human rights issues will be sponsored by the SAS, beginning September 22, and running through the third week of November.