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1. New Veg Group forming on campus
2. Recent Midterm Elections
3. Justice Movie Night Update - Nov 14 @ 7PM (SL115)
4. Consortium of United Students (Cous-cous)
5. Another potluck/discussion of current events?
6. Riotfolk show! - Early Dec (probably Dec 2)
7. Duck Yao at WPI
8. Zapatista Speaker at WPI
9. Abortion Film & Discussion - Nov 16 @ 7:30PM (SL115)
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1. New Veg Group forming on campus
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We talked about the new vegetarian group that is starting to form on campus. The petition for groups status was passed around.
Some people will soon be going through the dorms to get signatures and get interest in the group. If you're interested in helping out, contact me, CJ, Allison or Adam.
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2. Recent Midterm Elections
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We talked about the recent midterm elections, where the Democrats took over the senate and house. Oh yeah, and Donald Rumsfeld finally got fired. Fuck yeah.
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3. Justice Movie Night Update
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We're showing a film and having a discussion next Tuesday, Nov 14 @ 7PM in Kinnicut Hall (SL 115).
The film's called "This is What Democracy Looks Like". It's about the WTO protests in Seattle in 1999. Join the facebook event and invite all your friends. It seems like a cool movie.
CJ and Rickshaw helped stuff the mailboxes in the Campus center with flyers. Give them a high five when you see them next.
We decided we were going to table on Monday and Tuesday to promote the movie series, particularly the one this tuesday. We need someone to take charge of that.
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4. Consortium of United Students (Cous-cous)
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Jacky from Assumption is totally awesome. The Assumption newspaper wrote a pretty great article about the newly formed Cous cous. She's getting people involved left and right. We here at WPI need to get more progressive student groups on board.
We're setting up the next Cous-Cous meeting at Clark so we can get more Clark kids and groups involved.
Now would be a good time to say your last goodbyes to the sweatshop-made garments in the student store.
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5. Another potluck/discussion of current events?
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We tossed around the idea of hosting another potluck and discussion of current events.
If you want to set one up. Do. Pick a topic, set a date, and email the list. We're behind you.
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6. Riot folk show!
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Alright so these awesome folk musicians started this thing called the Riot Folk Collective. Alex Dismore is working with some kids in SocCom or Coffee House to set up a date and get some funding for them to come play a show at WPI in early December.
It might end up being a benefit for the Andy Stepanian's legal defense. (He's the guy that from the SHAC 7 who came to WPI last winter and gave a kick-ass talk on his case and its crazy implications.)
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7. Duck Yao at WPI
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We are working with the Chinese Student Association to host a Taoist vegan dinner party called Duck Yao. This too might end up being a fund-raiser. We're still working on it. Want to help? Email me.
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8. Mexican Solidarity and the Zapatistas
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A lot of crazy shit has been happening in Mexico recently. We have the opportunity to work with the newly formed Hispanic Student Association to bring a speaker from Chiapas, MX to WPI to talk about how free trade has effected their community and how they're fighting back.
I'll be going to the next Hispanic student group meeting to talk to them about it and sort it out. I need help with this. Email me.
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9. Abortion Film & Discussion
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Jenna is organizing a showing and discussion of a film, The Abortion Diaries. It's documentary showing by Penny Lane. You can find out more about it at:
http://www.theabortiondiaries.com/index.htm
Nov 16 (next Thursday) @ 7:30 in Kinnicutt Hall (SL 115)
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Download half-page mailbox stuffers [PDF] [DOC]
Download full page poster [PDF]
]]> Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act
We talked about the AETA and how it's an attack on Free Speech. Please call your senators and representatives and tell them to VOTE NO on the AETA (Senate Bill 3880 and House Resolution 4239). It would make protected free speech activity into felonies and terrorism charges. It's bad. Very bad. You can find out your rep's phone number here: congress.org
Busted!
We're showing Busted: A Citizen's Guide to Surviving Police Encounters next Thursday, Oct 5 @ 7PM in Kinnicut Hall
Critical Mass
Critical Mass tomorrow! Bring a bicycle and meet on the Quad at 4:30PM or at the Turtle-Boy Statue at 5:00PM.
Consortium Sweat-Free Campaign
We're going to work with students from Assumption to get sweat-shop clothing out of Worcester. Woo!
Here's the big one: Cous-cous
We're putting together coalition group to help create some unity among the different progressive student groups at the different schools in Worcester. It's called Consortium of United Students aka Cous-Cous. Our friend from Assumption is going to do some rallying over there, we're going to do some rallying at WPI and we'll get folks from Clark in on it too. Hopefully we can all come to some sort of consenus on what we can work on together.
The first meeting will be on Oct 26 @ 6:30PM at a location to be annouced
These are the groups at WPI we're going to invite (and who we're sending to invite them)
If you know any other groups or people who might be interested in working together for social change, try to get them to come or at least have them send a respresentive to the meeting.
Discussion of the "Green Scare"
We're going to try and put together a discussion of the Green Scare with GAEA. Hopefully we'll discuss the FBI witch hunts, grand juries and how the government is trying to convince us that environmental activists are terrorists.Someone will go and talk to GAEA soon to see if they're interested in co-sponsoring the event.
So far, this is what we've established for events:
Movie night is set to happen, tuesday nights as usual, but Greg needs to let us know what movies we have to show.
We have some skillshares vaguely set forth in the future. Ian wants to eventually do one on grease cars (modifying cars to run on cooking oil.) The Vegan cooking idea is still a good one. Re-showing Busted would be a good idea. Chloe is going to ask her friend to do a workshop on the consensus process.
Paul expressed interest in contacting the new head of the CDC about the military-industrial complex recruiting on campus, possibly to have a discussion about ethics and the professions.
We need a new president. Does anyone want the job?
I think we're off to a good start. I hope people can make it to the potluck!
-Rickshaw
]]>How about?
*Saturday, April 22nd
Worcester Clean Up
Gaea wants to form a Justice/Gaea team!
Let's clean up our enviornment and chill with other campus activists!
-April Fools joke? Greg is a funny man. Contact him.
-Satchmo- back on the ball. We've got Gaea, Photo Club and Justice on the organization petition and we're tackling more!
-Earth Day
Friday/Monday April 21st/24th
Joint Effort with Gaea and SocComm
Gaea says we can get all funding from GSG!
Need people to head up the planning for this.
-Amnesty National Student Action Week: Ratification of CEDAW Treaty (Women's Issues)
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/
*Bake Sale
Friday April 7th or 14th
Work with Amnesty for bake sale that charges men $1, women 73c, and minority women 50c
Will highlight unequal pay in U.S.
*Gail Dines
Monday April 17th 7pm
Sexism Speaker is willing to hold a closed workshop with 25 Justice, Click, BiLaGA, and Amnesty members.
Advisors to Justice are welcome.
MUST sign up! There is a reading pre-requisite.
Salut, Chloe
**Menstration & Feminism Skillshare
Wednesday March 29th HL116 8pm
Help Allison!
Make flyers/posters, tablesitting, participate, and/or make an announcement at a class.
**Screen Printing Shillshare
Tuesday & Wednesday April 11th & 12th
Help EPOCA prepare for thier event by making T-shirts
**Busted: Moved to a tentative Wednesday
Future events:
**Consensus Training
Replace a Justice meeting one Thursday after April 8th -- More in the future
**Earth Day is April 22nd. Alt food on the 21st or 24th? Work with Soccomm (Julia) and Gaea
**Solar Panels. Gaea has solar pannels to play with. Ideas for future projects?
We had a nice little chat with Gail Dines, the Sexism/Pornography speaker, at the end of our meeting. We should do more fun things like this in the future.
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What are sweatshops?
Sweatshops are any workplace (but especially most overseas garment factories) where workers are subjected to brutal conditions, long hours, and human rights abuses for very low pay. In sweatshops, people are forced to work in conditions that are dangerously below safety codes. They must work long hours (much more than the standard American eight hour workday). If they complain, or if their bosses don't think they're working hard enough (usually due to exhaustion and malnutrition), workers are routinely beaten or sexually abused in the worst of these factories. Most sweatshop workers around the world make less than two dollars a day, and some much less. A sweatshop worker can make anywhere from three to twenty five cents for producing a sweater that sells in a campus bookstore for $40. This is less than half of what they need to meet a basic standard of living, much less provide basic healthcare, nutrition, and shelter to a small family.
Many sweatshops trick workers into signing complex contracts that trap them into working in a sweatshop, making barely enough to feed themselves, and then forced to live in a factory dormitory packed with other workers (the typical sweatshop dorm measures 8' x 8' and houses 5 workers). This closely resembles what we would recognize as indentured servitude or slavery. Workers in sweatshops are not allowed to unionize in order to advocate their interests and needs. If they do, their best hopes are to be fired. People who emerge as union leaders are often beaten into submission, or in some cases, executed by death squads hired by factory owners1.
What can I do to help stop sweatshops?
Sweatshops thrive on two things: the ignorance and support of uninformed consumers. If the many consumers were made aware of how sweatshop clothing is manufactured, they'd naturally be appalled. Corporations who use sweatshop labor do whatever they can from allowing this information to come to light. Despite this, cases of repeated sweatshop abuse from many major corporations are well-documented.
You can help shut down sweatshops by boycotting companies who rely on sweatshop labor. Instead, you can use your buying power to support clothing manufacturers who do not use sweatshop labor. Many large companies have made a policy of supporting fair labor and trade. These companies pay their factory workers a livable wage (enough money to afford food, shelter, and basic healthcare) and provide a safe workplace with respect to the worker's basic human rights. Workers in these factories have the power to voice their concerns, and the right to organize in support of their interests. In fact, many of your favorite clothing companies may already be sweat free. To find out if a company is sweat free, consult our list of sweat-free companies.
If you'd like to do more, consider volunteering to help with your local anti-sweatshop movement. Your involvement can range anywhere from educating your friends and families about the issue to running your own local campaign. You can help by signing a petition, writing a letter to your president or board of trustees, or just by talking to your school bookstore manager. If you are a part of an organization or school government, get your organization to adopt a no-sweat pledge, or endorse a campus-wide policy.
Aren't sweat free clothes way more expensive?
The truth is that sweat-free clothes need not be more expensive than regular clothing. About 75% of the cost of a garment is profit for the garment manufacturer, the brand name company, or the store that sells the item. Only 1-1.5% of the cost of the item goes towards the wages of the worker who produced the item. Many companies that produce sweat-free clothing simply absorb the cost of paying their workers more. To them, this means accepting a 73% profit instead of 75%. Other companies simply raise their prices in accord with their labor costs. However, the difference for the consumer is little. Buying a sweat-free t-shirt might mean paying $20.25 instead of $20. The difference may be small to us, but for a garment worker in Malaysia, it may mean the difference between enough food for the entire family and being forced to starve his or her children. For more information, please see our cost analysis of sweat-free clothing.
I've heard that that all of WPI's products are sweat-free already. Why is there a No-Sweat campaign?
Almost all of the clothing sold and distributed by the school is made by the companies who are members of the Fair Labor Association, or FLA. The FLA is an organization dedicated to representing the interests of the world's biggest garment manufacturers, not to representing the interests and safety of workers. The FLA supposedly monitors factories to make sure that the workplaces meet an arbitrary standard of quality. However, these inspections are often spotty and lax, in response to the wishes of the FLA governing bodies (the same companies who abuse sweatshop labor sit on the board of directors of the FLA). Additional inspections from independent groups suggest that FLA factories fall far below international standards for fair labor. Many of the same factories inspected and approved by the FLA have been condemned by others as some of the worst sweatshops imaginable. Asking the FLA to police the actions of major garment manufacturers is like asking the Saddam Hussein to hire his own chemical weapons inspectors instead of allowing the United Nations to carry out an independent investigation. Be wary of FLA companies who claim their clothes are sweat free. There is still a critical need for these companies to allow independent, third-party inspectors to monitor garment factories.
What is the WRC?
The Worker's Rights Consortium, or WRC, is a non-profit interest group that represents over 140 colleges and universities across the United States. Clark University, Harvard, MIT, and more have all adopted sweat-free policies under the guidance of the Worker's Rights Consortium. The Worker Rights Consortium was created by college and university administrations, students and labor rights experts. The WRC's purpose is to assist in the enforcement of manufacturing Codes of Conduct adopted by colleges and universities; these Codes are designed to ensure that factories producing clothing and other goods bearing college and university names respect the basic rights of workers. The WRC helps schools to ensure that their garments are sweat-free. They also advocate for worker's rights, often negotiating for better pay and conditions in sweatshops around the world. The WRC is an independent, non-biased, third-party, unlike the FLA. For more information on the WRC, please visit www.workersrights.org
1: Source - killercoke.org
All other information from United Students Against Sweatshops.
Clubs and Organizations
* Encourage clubs to go sweat free (see sweat-free petition for clubs)
SGA
* Non-binding resolution encouraging clubs to use sweat-free garments.
Campus-wide
* Educate the public (students, faculty, etc) about sweatshop abuses and how to find alternatives to purchasing sweatshop garments.
* Get WPI to join Worker's Rights Consortium (WRC).
* Get WPI to adopt a sweat-free policy
* Bookstore compliance with school-wide policy
Steering Committee
The No Sweat steering committee meets every Thursday at 8:30 PM in the Campus Center. Its members are:
* Jeff DiMaria
* Greg Opperman
* Cody Rank
* Brianna Roy
* Allison Vasallo
* Drew Wilson
* Chloe Wiseman
Sweatshop Facts and Statistics
* The university clothing industry is worth over $3 billion dollars annually. Most of those clothes are manufactured in sweatshops.
* Sweatshop workers earn as little as one half to one fourth of what they need to provide for basic nutrition, shelter, energy, clothing, education, and transportation.
* In order to meet the basic nutritional needs of their families, sweatshop workers spend between 50-75% of their income on food alone.
* Worker wages typically account for 1-1.5% of the final retail cost of a garment. For example, a worker is typically paid 25 cents to make a $20 shirt. If the price were raised to $20.25, the brand could double the worker's salary with no loss of profit.
* Almost 75% of the retail price of a garment is pure profit for the manufacturer and retailer. That means that if the manufacturer absorbed the cost to double a worker's salary (as in the example above), their profit would decrease only to $14.75 instead of $15.
* Nike Chairman Phil Knight makes $14,000 a day; An Indonesian garment worker makes $2.50 a day.
* For less than 1% of Nike's advertising budget, wages could be doubled for all workers making Nike university clothing.
* According to US government data, in the past 10 years the price for cotton-knit shirts paid by US brands to factories has fallen 50%, on average. This drop in price has not been reflected in consumer retail prices.
Get Involved
There are several different ways you can become involved in the No Sweat campaign:
Sign the petition
Support the No Sweat campaign by signing our petition, and urging WPI to go sweat-free.
Tell others about the campaign
You can also help out by telling others about our campaign. Ask your friends and family to stop buying sweatshop goods, and urge them to sign our petition.
Join the campaign
The No Sweat campaign currently needs your help. Become an active part of the campaign today! You can do as much or as little as you have time for, and it's a great way to get involved in the community. E-mail oppy@wpi.edu to find out more. As a volunteer, you can:
* Collect petition signatures
* Help promote events (tabling, leaflets, etc.)
* Educate others about sweatshops and persuade them to go sweat-free
* Become a member of the steering committee
* Participate in direct action
-And more!
If you're interested, please e-mail oppy@wpi.edu for more information, or talk to any member of the No Sweat campaign.
So do two other documents.
Article II - Purpose
Section 1
Justice shall pursue its first goal by increasing awareness of and taking action against social, economic, environmental, and political injustices.
Section 2
Justice shall pursue its primary goal by providing a forum through which all students can voice opinions and mobilize on issues on campus, locally, and globally.
Section 3
Justice shall not be not officially affiliated with any local, regional or national groups.
Section 4
Justice's purpose is consistent with WPI's mission to get engineering and science students out of the classroom and into the world.
Section 5
Justice aims to be a lgbqt positive, anti-sexist, anti-racist, anti-classist, anti-ableist, non-hierarchical organization
Section 6
Justice opposes imperialsim, neoliberalism, neocolonialism, and all other unjust systems imposed on unwilling peoples.
Article III - Membership
Section 1
Membership is open to all WPI students, staff, and faculty regardless of race, creed, religion, color, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability, veteran status, marital status, class, income or national origin.
Section 2
Active members are defined as people who actively participate in the group on a regular basis
Section 3
Justice shall ensure that it's membership does not practice hazing of any kind.
Section 4
No member shall be required to take part in any activity that they do not wish to participate in.
Article IV - Officers and Election
Section 1
The officers of this group shall include a president, a vice president, a secretary and a treasurer.
Section 2
Officers will be chosen by consensus at the end of each semester to determine the officers for the following semester.
Section 3
In the case that consensus cannot be reached a vote will be taken for officers
Section 4
Any officer who has not fulfilled the duties of office may be removed from office by a consensus of the remaining members at any regular meeting.
Article V - Meetings
Section 1
Meetings will be held weekly with a duration of approximately one hour.
Section 2
Emergency meetings may be called by agreement of the club officers.
Section 3
At the start of each meeting, the meeting process will be explained to all new members. Old members will introduce themselves to new members.
Section 4
After the explanation of the process and introductions, the group must chose a facilitator, time keeper, note taker and mediator.
Section 5
A facilitator for a regular meeting shall have been already chosen at the end of the previous regular meeting. If for some reason, a facilitator has not been chosen, the president will facilitate during the process of choosing a facilitator.
Section 6
The meeting facilitator will create an agenda before each regular meeting based on the previous meetings notes and suggestions from members. The agenda should include an estimated time for each item.
Section 7
The role of the facilitator is to aid the group in defining decisions that need to be made, help them through the stages of reaching an agreement, keep the meeting moving, focus discussion to the point at hand, makes sure everyone has the opportunity to participate, and formulate and test to see if consensus has been reached.
Section 8
Facilitators help to direct the process of the meeting, not its content. They never make decisions for the group. If a facilitator feels too emotionally involved in an issue or discussion and cannot remain neutral in behavior, if not in attitude, then she should ask someone to take over the task of facilitation for that agenda item.
Section 9
The time keeper will warn the group when it reaches the estimated time for an agenda item.
Section 10
The note taker will record the minutes of the meeting and post them to the mailing list with the assistance of the secretary if necessary.
Section 11
The mediator will keep track of who has spoken and in what order people have raised their hands. She will make sure that one person or group does not dominate the discussion, and that everyone gets a chance to speak.
Section 12
After roles have been assigned, the facilitator will present the agenda and allow members to bring up new agenda items.
Section 13
Each agenda item that requires a decision will go through the consensus process.
Section 14
Initially, the proposal will be presented to the group and there will be a discussion period during which the proposal may be amended and modified, or withdrawn if it seems to be a dead end. During this discussion period it is important that all members articulate differences clearly. It is the responsibility of those who are having trouble with a proposal to put forth alternative suggestions.
Section 15
When a proposal seems to be well understood by everyone, and there are no new changes asked for, the facilitator can ask if there are any objections or reservations to it. If there are no objections, there can be a call for consensus. If there are still no objections, then after a moment of silence we have our decision. Once consensus does appear to have been reached, the facilitator should repeat the decision to the group so everyone is clear on what has been decided.
Section 16
There are several levels of objection:
Non-support ("I don't see the need for this, but I'll go along.")
Reservations ("I think this may be a mistake but I can live with it.")
Standing aside ("I personally can't do this, but I won't stop others from doing it.")
Blocking ("I cannot support this or allow the group to support this.")
Obviously, if many people express non-support or reservations or stand aside or leave the group, it may not be a viable decision even if no one directly blocks it.
Article VI - Amendments to Constitution and Bylaws
Section 1
All proposed amendments will be presented orally during regular club meetings. An electronic or printed copy of any proposed amendment shall be made available upon the request of any member.
Section 2
Amendments may be ratified by group consensus at the regular meeting following their presentation.
Article VII - Officer Duties and Responsibilities
Section 1
All officers must act consistently with the purpose of the club as defined in the constitution.
Section 2
All officers must attend at least three quarters of the scheduled meetings.
Section 3
The president shall be the official representative of the club. He/she will receive club mail and serve as a official liaison between the club and the rest of the world.
Section 4
The secretary is responsible for making sure that notes are taken at each meeting and posted to the appropriate mailing lists. He/she is also responsible for making sure that the web page is updated.
Section 5
The treasurer is responsible for taking care of expenditures, preparing budgets, and dealing with other monetary matters. He/she shall have no power to decide how money is distributed, as that privilege is reserved for the group.
Section 6
The vice-president is responsible for aiding the president in his/her duties.
Section 7
The club may delegate the responsibilities of any officer as necessary.