Last week, student protestors at Georgetown University staged a 35 hour sit-in to demand the school end its licensing agreement with Nike.
The protest was sparked by new revelations of “deplorable” conditions at the apparel giant’s Vietnam factory, including the systemic firing of pregnant employees and wage theft. Members of the Georgetown Solidarity Committee (GSC), the student-run group that staged the sit-in, argued that Nike’s labor practices were at odds with the Jesuit university’s institutional values, and pointed out that Nike is the university’s only licensee to not sign / comply with what is supposed to be a mandatory code of conduct.
The sit-in ended on Friday after the school’s president, John DeGioia, agreed to the GSC’s conditions promising the university would not renew its contract with Nike, which expires this month, unless the company allows the third-party monitoring group, Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), independent access to inspect all factories.
You can read more about the sit-in at The Guardian.
