While superstars like LeBron James have long been baited by companies such as Adidas and Nike, Cornell has made it clear that, in the long term, it did not want its official merchandise associated with these two giants. Under the influence of COLA and the Cornell chapter of the United Students Against Sweatshops, the University committed itself to improving working conditions in factories across the globe when it signed on to the Designated Suppliers Program (DSP) in April.
The Sun commends the University for becoming one of 35 universities to mandate that factories producing university merchandise pay their employees a living wage, allow unionization and abolish sweatshop conditions. At the same time, however, we question whether signing the proposal was nothing more than an empty gesture; it has been nearly a year, and Cornell continues to license products from factories that do not abide by these standards. We urge the University to take a more proactive approach in shifting the production of its apparel away from sweatshop-dependent factories.
There is no doubt that reforming an entire market practice is not an easy task for a single university. As Cornell’s Licensing Director Mike Powers points out, the volume of clothing that Cornell demands is simply not enough to create an incentive for manufacturers to improve the conditions in their factories. Cornell cannot possibly dictate a factory’s terms of production when the number of goods the University demands is miniscule compared to the number of goods that the factory produces for other clients.
But is this actually the case? Does Cornell really lack the power to pressure the factories that produce its official merchandise? The market for university athletic apparel makes up three percent of the total market for sportswear — not an insubstantial amount considering how much the sportswear market grosses globally. Plus, universities are unique compared to other brands in that they don’t have to worry about competition. If Cornell decides to rid itself of some of its sweatshop apparel, the price of producing these goods will rise. However, students surely won’t mind absorbing a small cost increase for the licensed product — especially if Cornell puts a Big Red Tag on them saying “sweatshop free.”
President Skorton has already proven to be a friend of sweat-free collegiate merchandise. In fact, one of his last moves before leaving the University of Iowa was to sign Iowa on to the DSP. Under Skorton’s guidance, Cornell can blaze the trail towards physically implementing the DSP across the Ivy League. After all, if an elite educational body like the Ivy League decides to cut a chunk of contracts with corporations that utilize unfair labor practices, perhaps that could be the domino effect that the DSP needs to reach the thousands of other universities across the nation.
When LeBron James decided to sign with Nike, the Labor God himself, Ralph Nader, urged him to speak out against worker conditions in Nike factories in developing countries. His response? Silence. Although Cornell might not have the same moves as LeBron, it certainly has the star power to lead by example. Let’s make sure that the opportunity doesn’t pass us by.