North Carolina: Students Occupy Chancellor's Office, Demand No Sweatshops, No Union Bustin

*Students Occupy Chancellor's Office
*NO Sweatshops!
NO Union busting!*

*About 10 students from UNC Chapel Hill - have been occupying the Chancellor's office for
24 hours now - demanding that the University sign on to the DSP -
Designated Supplier Program - that would ensure that apparral made with
the UNC logo is made by workers free from anti-union intimidation and
full rights to organize - - demanding "Stop Union Busting" and "UNC
Sweatfree" - *the students have committed to staying as long as it takes
- and are prepared to continue the occupation through the weekend.*

How to Support the Students:

_*CALL CHANCELLOR MOESER*_ at 919-962-1365 and tell him you support the
students who are sitting in at his office and demand that he immediately
adopt the DSP!

Hello, my name is ________ and I am a ________ from ______. I was
shocked to discover that North Carolina clothes are produced in
sweatshops. I urge you to listen to your students, adopt the DSP, and
refrain from any kind of disciplinary action. Thank you.

Press Release

STUDENTS OCCUPY CHANCELLOR MOESER'S OFFICE, RISK ARREST

15 students follow the lead of students at Penn State, Montana, and
Appalachian State by holding a sit-in to demand a sweatfree UNC, support
rally planned at 4:30 pm at South Building

Thursday, April 17- Riding a wave of student sit-ins that has been
sweeping the nation, students at the University of North Carolina Chapel
Hill have just occupied Chancellor Moeser's office. 15 students have
stated that they refuse to leave the building until Chancellor Moeser
agrees to a sweatfree policy called the Designated Suppliers Program
(DSP). This is the fourth sit-in in support of this policy in the last
week, with students already having been arrested at Pennsylvania State
University, University of Montana, and another UNC system school,
Appalachian State University. Students, workers, and community members
will be mobilizing to march on the South Building at 4:30 in
anticipation of the building's closure, and possible student arrests, at
5:00 pm.

For the past three years, students at the Chapel Hill campus have
demanded that Chancellor Moeser adopt the DSP, a policy that has been
proposed at more than 150 schools by different chapters of United
Students Against Sweatshops. The DSP would ensure that university
logoed apparel is produced in factories where workers earn enough to
support a family and have the right to form a union. Despite the
overwhelming support of students, community members, and the more than
20 organizations that make up the Carolina Sweatfree Coalition,
Chancellor Moeser has still refused to follow the lead of the 42 other
universities, including Duke, who have already signed on to the DSP. "As
UNC students we would like to wear our Carolina gear with pride," said
Salma Mirza, a senior history major at UNC Chapel Hill. "Instead, due
to Chancellor Moeser's inaction, our clothes continue to be made in
factories where workers don't earn enough to support themselves, let
alone their families."

As student protest has spread throughout the UNC system, an
international campaign has begun to demand that the entire UNC system
commit themselves to the principles of the DSP. Last week, UNC
President Erskine Bowles received phone calls, emails, and faxes from
thousands of advocates around the world demanding that the UNC system
follow the lead of the University of California by having all of its
member schools adopt the DSP. "As a Carolina Covenant Scholar, I feel
that compromising the living and working conditions of others in order
to fund my college education is unacceptable, especially from an
institution that touts itself as 'the university of the people," said Ea
Panjwani, a sophomore covenant scholar majoring in international studies.