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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Human Rights and Free Speech suppressed at Illinois State University |
Current rating: 0 |
by ISU United Students Against Sweatshops
Email: mareede (nospam) ilstu.edu (unverified!) |
21 Mar 2001
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Disney is suppressing freedom of speech and trampling over students' rights. |
Tonight, approximately 30 people from ISU United Students Against Sweatshops and other activist groups gathered to protest Disney's internship recruiting program at Illinois State University. Carrying signs with phrases such as "The Wonderful World of Slavery" and "Disney Dream, Worker's Nightmare", we the protesters stood outside CVA 151, passing out fliers and informing potential interns about Disney's abysmal human rights record and horrific sweatshops in China, Haiti, etc. Some of the us had Mickey Mouse ears on; one protester came dressed as Mickey Mouse.
ISU is a public university. However, apparently Disney had rented out the room for the evening. The we gathered at 5:30 PM (the event began at 6) and stood at the entrance for 30-45 minutes, after which we entered the building. Those who entered immediately joined the rest of the crowd, while some of us remained outside. One protester stood up and gave a presentation while Disney called the police. He stated that he wanted to be arrested, and at about 6:15PM, ISU police took him away. As I understand it, he is being charged with Criminal Trespassing. The rest of the us had entered the room and joined the presentation, standing up against the wall. ISU Police followed us and stood over us peaceful protesters, monitoring our every move. One protester shouted something about sweatshops into the lecture hall and was escorted away. Another of us walked around, attempting to distribute more fliers. He was told to leave the room, and was told that he couldn't hand out any anti-Disney fliers because he was "disrupting their business". After the program was over, several of the us protesters remained. We gathered outside to discuss an action for tomorrow. When one of us entered the building, she was escorted out. When she asked for the officers name, only one of the four officers actually gave the protester her (the officers) name, telling her that "she didn't need to know". Then the police locked the door, skirting fire code by locking the door from the outside so that recruits could get out but we could not get in. Finally, at 8PM, the last of us broke up.
What is wrong with this picture? Free speech is being suppressed here, and United Students Against Sweatshops will not remain silent. We are planning another protest tomorrow in front of the Student Services Building at noon here in Normal. We will be carrying on with our protesting about Disney's human rights record, as well as challenging the renting out of ISU space to Disney. For those who are interested, the Student Services Building is on University Street across from the Bone Student Center. Everyone is welcome.
Please help us out here! We are being oppressed and our information is being suppressed. |
Comments
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I was there |
by Nick
naberve (nospam) ilstu.edu (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
21 Mar 2001
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I am also a member of United Students Against Sweatshops here at ISU and I want to give more detail about the situation. Here at ISU, many of us who are very concerned about Human Rights came together to protest Disney. Tonight we pushed the boundaries.
Our protest began at 5:30 and we were very successful handing out fliers to everyone. We had such a huge presence outside that the people going to see Disney were at a loss of who was a protester and who was with Disney. I was especially surprised to see people say no thanks to corporate Disney fliers thinking the Disney people were with the protesters. Several of us dressed nicely to mix in and look like Disney recruiters, this has been very effective. "Sweaty Mouse" made an appearance and we took over the outside of the lecture hall. We had our numbers and saw the people who wanted to hear about Disney were not especially interested in our concerns. They took our fliers and they went in quickly. Disney has been heavily advertising on our campus and we were fighting back by chalking the Quad right next to Disney ads and putting things like "Disney makes sweatshops happen", "Corporate Greed" and the e-mail address to the National Labor Committee on the sidewalks. Our fliers had the facts from the National Labor Committee. To me, this protest has a lot to do with finger pointing. We have our facts, we don't want to ignore them, we don't want others to ignore this either. There is no way anyone who attended Disney tonight could have not been aware of our presence. I was outside when this started but when I went inside things were a mess. One of our USAS students stood up and started talking out about sweatshop abuse in the lecture hall, taking up Disney's time to recruit. I missed the speech part of this inside protest but what happened was that we stunned Disney. They could not and would not respond, so they left us with the stage and called the cops. We had the stage for 15 minutes and shouting started going on between us and the family type who were getting impatient and wanted us to get out. The tension was incredible. We had briefly won our campus back and the people who wanted Disney got angry.
The police arrived and Nino, our protester with the stage would not leave. He had his hands in front of him telling the cops and the audience that since he was being arrested, he wanted to have the handcuffs put on him now, so that everyone could see who the police favored. This did not happen but it shows how our worlds are so heavily separated, all inside one lecture hall.
My concern now is how we can take back our University and remove Disney from our campus. They not only have the right to advertise freely in cafeterias where we cannot, they have money to waste. We are forced to oppose them and we will not let our concerns be put to the side. Our protest tomorrow is addressed to the people who went to see Disney and are turning in applications to work retail or janitorial jobs at Disney World so they can put Disney on their resume. We will be taking on other issues, but this fight will go on next fall when Disney comes back. This is the third time we have protested Disney. We are making ourselves as visible as possible because this issue is transparent to a lot of people.
I don't have all the details to this protest, I had a night class at 7 and could not stay. Hopefully we'll get some pictures on the net soon and get this issue on the urbana indymedia headlines. More to come! |
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Thanks! |
by Peter Miller
peterm (nospam) shout.net (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
22 Mar 2001
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Thanks for the great report and the great action! I'd love to see some pictures. |
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Great Job-Let's Go Regional |
by Mike lehman
rebelmike (nospam) earthlink.net (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
22 Mar 2001
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It is really heartening to see things like this happening just up the road from us at the U 0f I. It's also good to see people taking advantage of the U-C IMC site to spread the word. We ceratinly can't count on the dominant press to do that.
I am a junior history major at the U of I. There doesn't seem to be any active USAS presence here, but if I'm wrong about that please contact me or Peter Miller and we will spread the word to folks we know. I remember seeing the ads in the Daily Illini that Disney was going to be here, too, and was hoping something like this would confront them when they were here. Glad to see that you made their road trip to recruit more willing Evil Mouseketeers more lively than they expected. |
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Disney Protest |
by Ryan Canney
rpcanne (nospam) ilstu.edu (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
23 Mar 2001
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I am another student at ISU that is part of USAS and was present at the protest. I just want to add a couple of things to this report. First, this protest was not just about Disney. They were on campus, so they received our focus. This is more about making sure that our campus does not lend it's support to corporations or organizations that have been documented as violating human rights or workers rights. It seems ridiculous to me that ISU can simultaneusly offer a great human rights course in the political science department and then allow a corporation like Disney to use our campus as a recruiting ground for future exploiters of the world. To correct these contradictions, USAS's next step is to seek a policy change regarding what groups are allowed to use our campus space. This would involve implementing some type of standard based on human rights. Our Academic Senate is in the beginning stages of attempting this action.
The second issue I wanted to address is the perception of USAS's complaints regarding police actions during and after the protest. While it is true and quite disturbing that the police took away some fliers, locked us out of a public building, and at least one officer would not give his name when asked, I fear that some in our community might take our complaints as whiny, middle-class, college students bitching and moaning, thus taking away the focus from the actual issue of worker rights. So we need to be careful and not lose focus of human rights violations and oppression that are much more serious than our own problems that we recently encountered. No doubt that we need to let people know the actions of the police. However, we risk being marginalized by the mainstream community and media due to their less-than-positive perception of college students.
Thanks to indymedia for the support, and I hope to see this movement and other progressive movements grow in central Illinois. Also, thanks to Matt and Nick for taking advantage of this great resource on the web.
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Questions |
by Concerned Student
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
24 Mar 2001
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What I am about to say is a response from the other side of the spectrum. I attend ISU and I was at the Disney Presentation and I was witness to what occurred at the protest. First of all Disney was presenting there internship opportunities to interested students of Illinois State...they were not holding a workshop. There were 2 recruiters at the presentation and so it is very easy to out number them with a protest. They Disney Alumni were not handing out cooperate fliers; they were handing out surveys to see how the students heard about the College Program. As to the violation of first amendment rights...I don’t believe from what I witnessed that night that anyone’s rights were violated. The person standing up front said he wanted to be arrested so he got what he wanted. The Girl who got escorted out by the police was interfering with a private information session with a Disney Recruiter. Disney never pressed charges on anyone that was all done by the University. Now you will probably disagree with me in everything I have said thus far but each person sees things differently. As I close out I have a question, half of your group says that you just want to make a point and the other half says that you want to take back your campus and get rid of Disney. Also you want to get rid of Disney based on accusations. If you are to read the Vidette article it says that everything said is accusations. Disney is quoted saying that they fixed the problem back in 1996. Which is it? I find it difficult to hear you say that ISU is your campus it is everyone’s campus and as long as people want to get internship opportunities with companies you cannot stop them. How can you say ISU offers a wonderful Poly Sci class when some people I talk to that have taken it say that they did not like the class, and the professor but they were afraid to speak up because the people who did were the ones getting a lower grade and they did the same quality of work as everyone else? Don’t you think Ideals are being pressed on people when some of the people don’t want them? How can you call that a wonderful class? How old it the flyer that your group hands out? I had a cousin who went to ISU in the beginning of the 90's and she said that same type of information was being handed out. As I said before Disney started making moves in 1996 to address that problem. Your speaker who got arrested at the meeting said that your group has tried to contact Disney and they have never got any response. That you have offered to work with Disney on the problem but nothing has ever been done. Yet when the Vidette called to Disney they got a response right away and the Response is that Disney has been making policies that are being enforced. As you see I have many questions that your group has failed to answer. So I think it is unacceptable to try and take away opportunities away from the students of ISU when there are so many questions left unanswered. Thank you |
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Questions |
by Concerned Student
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
24 Mar 2001
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|
What I am about to say is a response from the other side of the spectrum. I attend ISU and I was at the Disney Presentation and I was witness to what occurred at the protest. First of all Disney was presenting there internship opportunities to interested students of Illinois State...they were not holding a workshop. There were 2 recruiters at the presentation and so it is very easy to out number them with a protest. They Disney Alumni were not handing out cooperate fliers; they were handing out surveys to see how the students heard about the College Program. As to the violation of first amendment rights...I don’t believe from what I witnessed that night that anyone’s rights were violated. The person standing up front said he wanted to be arrested so he got what he wanted. The Girl who got escorted out by the police was interfering with a private information session with a Disney Recruiter. Disney never pressed charges on anyone that was all done by the University. Now you will probably disagree with me in everything I have said thus far but each person sees things differently. As I close out I have a question, half of your group says that you just want to make a point and the other half says that you want to take back your campus and get rid of Disney. Also you want to get rid of Disney based on accusations. If you are to read the Vidette article it says that everything said is accusations. Disney is quoted saying that they fixed the problem back in 1996. Which is it? I find it difficult to hear you say that ISU is your campus it is everyone’s campus and as long as people want to get internship opportunities with companies you cannot stop them. How can you say ISU offers a wonderful Poly Sci class when some people I talk to that have taken it say that they did not like the class, and the professor but they were afraid to speak up because the people who did were the ones getting a lower grade and they did the same quality of work as everyone else? Don’t you think Ideals are being pressed on people when some of the people don’t want them? How can you call that a wonderful class? How old it the flyer that your group hands out? I had a cousin who went to ISU in the beginning of the 90's and she said that same type of information was being handed out. As I said before Disney started making moves in 1996 to address that problem. Your speaker who got arrested at the meeting said that your group has tried to contact Disney and they have never got any response. That you have offered to work with Disney on the problem but nothing has ever been done. Yet when the Vidette called to Disney they got a response right away and the Response is that Disney has been making policies that are being enforced. As you see I have many questions that your group has failed to answer. So I think it is unacceptable to try and take away opportunities away from the students of ISU when there are so many questions left unanswered. Thank you |
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Questions |
by Concerned student
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
24 Mar 2001
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What I am about to say is a response from the other side of the spectrum. I attend ISU and I was at the Disney Presentation and I was witness to what occurred at the protest. First of all Disney was presenting there internship opportunities to interested students of Illinois State...they were not holding a workshop. There were 2 recruiters at the presentation and so it is very easy to out number them with a protest. They Disney Alumni were not handing out cooperate fliers; they were handing out surveys to see how the students heard about the College Program. As to the violation of first amendment rights...I don’t believe from what I witnessed that night that anyone’s rights were violated. The person standing up front said he wanted to be arrested so he got what he wanted. The Girl who got escorted out by the police was interfering with a private information session with a Disney Recruiter. Disney never pressed charges on anyone that was all done by the University. Now you will probably disagree with me in everything I have said thus far but each person sees things differently. As I close out I have a question, half of your group says that you just want to make a point and the other half says that you want to take back your campus and get rid of Disney. Also you want to get rid of Disney based on accusations. If you are to read the Vidette article it says that everything said is accusations. Disney is quoted saying that they fixed the problem back in 1996. Which is it? I find it difficult to hear you say that ISU is your campus it is everyone’s campus and as long as people want to get internship opportunities with companies you cannot stop them. How can you say ISU offers a wonderful Poly Sci class when some people I talk to that have taken it say that they did not like the class, and the professor but they were afraid to speak up because the people who did were the ones getting a lower grade and they did the same quality of work as everyone else? Don’t you think Ideals are being pressed on people when some of the people don’t want them? How can you call that a wonderful class? How old it the flyer that your group hands out? I had a cousin who went to ISU in the beginning of the 90's and she said that same type of information was being handed out. As I said before Disney started making moves in 1996 to address that problem. Your speaker who got arrested at the meeting said that your group has tried to contact Disney and they have never got any response. That you have offered to work with Disney on the problem but nothing has ever been done. Yet when the Vidette called to Disney they got a response right away and the Response is that Disney has been making policies that are being enforced. As you see I have many questions that your group has failed to answer. So I think it is unacceptable to try and take away opportunities away from the students of ISU when there are so many questions left unanswered. Thank you |
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Questions |
by Concerned student
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
24 Mar 2001
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|
What I am about to say is a response from the other side of the spectrum. I attend ISU and I was at the Disney Presentation and I was witness to what occurred at the protest. First of all Disney was presenting there internship opportunities to interested students of Illinois State...they were not holding a workshop. There were 2 recruiters at the presentation and so it is very easy to out number them with a protest. They Disney Alumni were not handing out cooperate fliers; they were handing out surveys to see how the students heard about the College Program. As to the violation of first amendment rights...I don’t believe from what I witnessed that night that anyone’s rights were violated. The person standing up front said he wanted to be arrested so he got what he wanted. The Girl who got escorted out by the police was interfering with a private information session with a Disney Recruiter. Disney never pressed charges on anyone that was all done by the University. Now you will probably disagree with me in everything I have said thus far but each person sees things differently. As I close out I have a question, half of your group says that you just want to make a point and the other half says that you want to take back your campus and get rid of Disney. Also you want to get rid of Disney based on accusations. If you are to read the Vidette article it says that everything said is accusations. Disney is quoted saying that they fixed the problem back in 1996. Which is it? I find it difficult to hear you say that ISU is your campus it is everyone’s campus and as long as people want to get internship opportunities with companies you cannot stop them. How can you say ISU offers a wonderful Poly Sci class when some people I talk to that have taken it say that they did not like the class, and the professor but they were afraid to speak up because the people who did were the ones getting a lower grade and they did the same quality of work as everyone else? Don’t you think Ideals are being pressed on people when some of the people don’t want them? How can you call that a wonderful class? How old it the flyer that your group hands out? I had a cousin who went to ISU in the beginning of the 90's and she said that same type of information was being handed out. As I said before Disney started making moves in 1996 to address that problem. Your speaker who got arrested at the meeting said that your group has tried to contact Disney and they have never got any response. That you have offered to work with Disney on the problem but nothing has ever been done. Yet when the Vidette called to Disney they got a response right away and the Response is that Disney has been making policies that are being enforced. As you see I have many questions that your group has failed to answer. So I think it is unacceptable to try and take away opportunities away from the students of ISU when there are so many questions left unanswered. Thank you |
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Questions |
by Concerned student
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
24 Mar 2001
|
|
What I am about to say is a response from the other side of the spectrum. I attend ISU and I was at the Disney Presentation and I was witness to what occurred at the protest. First of all Disney was presenting there internship opportunities to interested students of Illinois State...they were not holding a workshop. There were 2 recruiters at the presentation and so it is very easy to out number them with a protest. They Disney Alumni were not handing out cooperate fliers; they were handing out surveys to see how the students heard about the College Program. As to the violation of first amendment rights...I don’t believe from what I witnessed that night that anyone’s rights were violated. The person standing up front said he wanted to be arrested so he got what he wanted. The Girl who got escorted out by the police was interfering with a private information session with a Disney Recruiter. Disney never pressed charges on anyone that was all done by the University. Now you will probably disagree with me in everything I have said thus far but each person sees things differently. As I close out I have a question, half of your group says that you just want to make a point and the other half says that you want to take back your campus and get rid of Disney. Also you want to get rid of Disney based on accusations. If you are to read the Vidette article it says that everything said is accusations. Disney is quoted saying that they fixed the problem back in 1996. Which is it? I find it difficult to hear you say that ISU is your campus it is everyone’s campus and as long as people want to get internship opportunities with companies you cannot stop them. How can you say ISU offers a wonderful Poly Sci class when some people I talk to that have taken it say that they did not like the class, and the professor but they were afraid to speak up because the people who did were the ones getting a lower grade and they did the same quality of work as everyone else? Don’t you think Ideals are being pressed on people when some of the people don’t want them? How can you call that a wonderful class? How old it the flyer that your group hands out? I had a cousin who went to ISU in the beginning of the 90's and she said that same type of information was being handed out. As I said before Disney started making moves in 1996 to address that problem. Your speaker who got arrested at the meeting said that your group has tried to contact Disney and they have never got any response. That you have offered to work with Disney on the problem but nothing has ever been done. Yet when the Vidette called to Disney they got a response right away and the Response is that Disney has been making policies that are being enforced. As you see I have many questions that your group has failed to answer. So I think it is unacceptable to try and take away opportunities away from the students of ISU when there are so many questions left unanswered. Thank you |
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Questions |
by Concerned student
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
24 Mar 2001
|
|
What I am about to say is a response from the other side of the spectrum. I attend ISU and I was at the Disney Presentation and I was witness to what occurred at the protest. First of all Disney was presenting there internship opportunities to interested students of Illinois State...they were not holding a workshop. There were 2 recruiters at the presentation and so it is very easy to out number them with a protest. They Disney Alumni were not handing out cooperate fliers; they were handing out surveys to see how the students heard about the College Program. As to the violation of first amendment rights...I don’t believe from what I witnessed that night that anyone’s rights were violated. The person standing up front said he wanted to be arrested so he got what he wanted. The Girl who got escorted out by the police was interfering with a private information session with a Disney Recruiter. Disney never pressed charges on anyone that was all done by the University. Now you will probably disagree with me in everything I have said thus far but each person sees things differently. As I close out I have a question, half of your group says that you just want to make a point and the other half says that you want to take back your campus and get rid of Disney. Also you want to get rid of Disney based on accusations. If you are to read the Vidette article it says that everything said is accusations. Disney is quoted saying that they fixed the problem back in 1996. Which is it? I find it difficult to hear you say that ISU is your campus it is everyone’s campus and as long as people want to get internship opportunities with companies you cannot stop them. How can you say ISU offers a wonderful Poly Sci class when some people I talk to that have taken it say that they did not like the class, and the professor but they were afraid to speak up because the people who did were the ones getting a lower grade and they did the same quality of work as everyone else? Don’t you think Ideals are being pressed on people when some of the people don’t want them? How can you call that a wonderful class? How old it the flyer that your group hands out? I had a cousin who went to ISU in the beginning of the 90's and she said that same type of information was being handed out. As I said before Disney started making moves in 1996 to address that problem. Your speaker who got arrested at the meeting said that your group has tried to contact Disney and they have never got any response. That you have offered to work with Disney on the problem but nothing has ever been done. Yet when the Vidette called to Disney they got a response right away and the Response is that Disney has been making policies that are being enforced. As you see I have many questions that your group has failed to answer. So I think it is unacceptable to try and take away opportunities away from the students of ISU when there are so many questions left unanswered. Thank you |
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Sorry |
by Concerned Student
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
24 Mar 2001
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I apologize for filling up this page with the same entry. I didnt thing my computer was working right I kept getting and error and for that I apologize. |
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Sorry |
by Concerned Student
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
24 Mar 2001
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I apologize for filling up this page with the same entry. I didnt thing my computer was working right I kept getting and error and for that I apologize. |
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response to concerned student |
by ryan
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
24 Mar 2001
|
I would like to answer some of the questions that "concerned student" raises in their comments. First, thanks for taking time out to ask these questions, and I hope that my answers will suffice. I must point out that these are my answers and not necessarily the ones of the entire USAS group at ISU. As far as different responses that you may be hearing from members of USAS, it is true that individuals in the group have made varying comments. However, all of these comments and opinions are consistent in our concern regarding sweatshops and ISU's support of sweatshops. I must state that I don't believe anyone within the group, if questioned, would say that our sole purpose is to get Disney off the ISU campus.
Concerning the Disney "accusations" that you question, these are documented violations published by respected human rights groups that are non-profit. The most recent report came out in 1999 well after Disney made policy changes in 1996. The report cites a factory in China that produces Disney good for among other violations, forcing workers to work 16-18 hours a day, paying workes 13 cents an hour (not a living wage even by China's standards), and dishing out physical and mental abuse for workers that are perceived as being off task. This is the most recent report to my knowledge. Perhaps if Disney disclosed where other factories are, more updated reports would be available. I wonder why Disney doesn't disclose the locations of these factories?
As far as your comments regarding the Human Rights course in the Political Sciecne Department, I have a feeling that we might be talking about a different course. Since this is the first semester that the course is being offered and we haven't received any type of grades for the class, I don't know how anyone can say that professor is handing out lower grades to certain individuals. In fact, when it comes to grading time, most grades will be contingent on the student's group members evaluation. While there are some problems with the course, the are hardly due to the professor. The problems arise from this being a first-time course and from the radical departure from regular course structure. With time, I have no doubt that this course will serve as a model for other schools interested in a human rights curriculum.
I hope that I have clarified any misconceptions or questions that "concerned student" had about he recent Disney protest. I appreciate the time the she/he put forth to ask these questions. To sum up the USAS actions of last week, we acted to give prospective Disney interns an alternative view of the Disney Corp., and we also acted to raise awareness of ISU's indirect support of corporations that have been documented as violating human rights. We did not tell students not to work for Disney. We simply asked them to question Disney on these issues. We are not asking the administration at ISU to kick Disney off of the campus. We simply would like to implement a policy that takes into account an corporation's or organization's past record regarding treatment of human beings. If a corporation or organization's past history comes into question, we would simply like there to be a dialogue between the university and the corporation/organization and a dialogue between students, faculty, staff, and the administation of ISU.
Once again I must reiterate, these our my on thought and observations regarding the recent happenings at ISU. Since USAS does not have a an organizational hierarchy, some of our opinions and thoughts may vary, but I think that most, if not all, will be logically consistent with the anti-sweatshop cause.
Thanks again indymedia for the forum,
Ryan
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update |
by Adam Jones
adjameson (nospam) yahoo.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
27 Mar 2001
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I just wanted to add that the charges against Nino have been dropped. |
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Too bad |
by Regis
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
28 Mar 2001
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To bad |
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