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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 2001)
Group aims to increase sweatshop awareness ■UNL students are voicing their opposition and educating the university on the subject. BY LAUREN ADAMS Senior international studies major Elizabeth Goodbrake has a Husker sweatshirt with the words, “This was made in a sweatshop” printed on the back. She said it never fails to spark conversation. “I believe we have a right to be impolite,” Goodbrake said. The student organization Goodbrake heads, the UNL Students Against Sweatshop Campaign, is relatively small with only about 15 members in its first year, but despite the group’s size, its members believe in the importance of their cause big time. uooaDraKe said sne neid strong beliefs when it came to human rights. “I believe every worker has the right to be treated with digni ty no matter what country they're in,” Goodbrake said. The group aims to increase awareness about “sweatshop” working conditions - the term used to describe factory settings in which workers are paid little and treated poorly. Molly Ruhlman, junior anthropology and economics major, said the group has been busy preparing itself to reach out to campus. “We have been focusing on educating ourselves, and now we want to start educating stu dents,” Ruhlman said. The group recently sent rep resentatives to the Midwest United Students Against Sweatshops Conference in Chicago. “It was a chance for different campus groups to get together,” said Ruhlman. “There was a lot of alliance building, education and ffnal trading " Ruhlman said there were a lot of misconceptions about the economic situations in other countries. She disagreed with the common notion that sweat shop workers were willing to work under adverse conditions. “It's not so much a willing ness,” Ruhlman said, “it’s their position in the power structure.” Ruhlman said that recent happenings in Mexico accentu ate that fact. A large majority of workers at an alleged Nike sweatshop in Mexico were fired after protesting what they claimed to be abusive working conditions. “Kukdong (the factory) is an example of the inability of work ers to organize,” Ruhlman said. The sweatshop supplies sweatshirts to several major uni versities. UNL Athletic Licensing and Sales Director, Russ Svoboda said UNL has policies against sweatshops. “We don’t allow those types of things in the production of products that will be connected with the university," Svoboda said. Goodbrake said that finding out how clothing was made was harder than it may seem. “It’s virtually impossible to 1We have been focusing on educating ourselves and now we want to start educating students.” Molly Ruhlman group member buy something sweat free,” Goodbrake said. Goodbrake said that it was not the goal of the anti-sweat shop movement to boycott com panies. “This is not a boycott,” Goodbrake said. “Buy their stuff, and let corporations know about your anger about their use of sweatshops.” Ruhlman agreed. "People can still enjoy prod ucts and work with our move ment,” she said. “We’re trying really hard to make this a posi tive movement, to work with our university and not against it.” Goodbrake said she encour aged people to find out about the companies they bought from and communicate their opin ions. "If people write enough let ters, corporations will begin to think, ‘Our consumers really care about these issues, maybe we better clean up our act,'” she said. UNL Students Against Sweatshops Campaign meets Thursday nights at 7:30 p.m. in the Culture Center. Officers arrest man for attempted break-in After a man was found trying to get into a university building Friday morning, officers took him to Comhusker Place Detox. Assistant Police Chief Mylo Bushing said Colby Christensen, 25, was found by officers around 4 a.m. trying to get into the Alexander building, 1410 Q St Christensen told officers he was trying to get into his home, although he could not remember his address, Bushing said. Officers said they smelled a strong odor of alcohol on his breath. Christensen was taken to detox, where his blood alcohol level was .158, Bushing said. Police issue man five citations, indudmg driving on sidewalk Officers arrested one man for five citations. Saturday after he parked his car on a sidewalk and drove over the center lane. Officers noticed Michael Eveland, 20, driving his car on 17* Street, weaving in and out of the center lane shortly after 12 am, Bushing said. Officers stopped Eveland and smelled an odor of alcohol com ing from the car and noticed Eveland had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech, Bushing said. Officers then noticed a Budweiser beer box with 16 empty bottles and two full bottles. Eveland’s blood alcohol level was 224 when first tested, but reg istered .201 when tested at Comhusker Place Detox. Eveland was cited for DWI, MIP, open container, no proof of insurance and driving on a side walk, Bushing said. Eveland was taken to jail for diving with a suspended license. Harper's defecation problems concern resident assistants An ongoing defecation prob lem caused the resident assistant on the sixth floor of Harper Hall to take action. Shortly after 7 p.m. on Saturday, Bushing said the resi dence assistant reported a prob lem with people defecating in the showers. Bushing said the cost to clean each shower was $50. Letters concerning the prob lem will be sent to everyone living in University Housing, Bushing said. Bushing said anyone with any information about the crimes could call the University Police Department at (402) 472-3555. Lincoln police arrest two men for driving violations, DWI Officers arrested two men after they saw both driving the wrong way on a one-way street Shortly after 1 a.m. on Saturday morning, Justin Overturf, 20, a UNL junior, was seen driving south on 10th Street, a one-way street going north, Bushing said. Officers stopped Overturf on P Street, noticed his eyes were bloodshot and could smell an alcohol odor coming from the car, Bushing said. Bushing said Overturf showed impairment during his field sobri ety test, and his pre-blood-alcohol test measured .154. He was then taken to Cornhusker Place Detox where his blood alcohol level was .142, Bushing said. Bushing said Overturf was cited for DWI and driving the wrong way on a one-way street. Early Sunday morning, Shane Powers, 22, was seen driving north on 16th Street Officers said Powers' eyes were red, and they also smelled a strong odor of alcohol coming from the vehicle. Powers had impairments dur ing his field-sobriety test, and his blood alcohol level was .181 in a pre-test given by officers, Bushing said. Bushing said Powers was taken to Comhusker Place Detox, where his blood alcohol level was .157, Bushing said. Powers was given two cita tions: driving the wrong way on a one-way and DWI, Bushing said. Student dted for drug paraphernalia in residence hall A university student and a Lincoln resident were given cita tions for drug paraphernalia early Sunday morning. Shortly before 1 a.m., a Community Service Officer reported smelling the scent of burning marijuana coming from a room on the 10th floor of Smith Residence Hall, Bushing said. Officers arrived at the room of Cynthia Audet, 18, where she gave officers permission to come into the room, although she refused to sign a consent form to let them search the room, Bushing said. Bushing said officers noticed a plastic marijuana pipe on a table in the room and placed Audet and James Sandman, who was also in the room, under arrest. Officers searched the room and found a metal door-handle marijuana pipe and a plastic bag containing possible marijuana, Bushing said Bushing said Sandman was also cited for drug paraphernalia, as well as possession of less than one ounce of marijuana. -Compiled by Jill Conner Kerrey installed at New School University THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEWYORK—How do you get to Carnegie Hall? For former Sen. Bob Kerrey the answer is become head of a New York Qty university whose colorful past seems to match his own reputation as a maverick Kerrey, the Nebraska Democrat who retired last month after 12 years in the U.S. Senate, is being installed as president of the New School University at a cere mony today at the famed concert hall Kerrey, 57, is a decorated Vietnam War hero who lost part of his right leg in combat He sought the Democratic nomination for president in 1992 and supported *; m Bill Bradley against A1 Gore last year. "You only get to run around the track once in life, and 12 years in the Senate is a long time," he told the Daily News last week. "A lot of times I said that if I was in charge of a university, I would do things differently. Now I get the chance.” The New School was founded as an experimental institute dedi cated to the social sciences. It served as a haven for scholars flee ing Hitler's Europe, and its faculty has included political theorist Hannah Arendt and composer John Cage. These days it is known for continuing education classes in everything from Web design to "Deconstructing Barbie.” The New School now com prises seven divisions including the Parsons School of Design, the Actors Studio and the Mannes College of Music. It has 7,000 stu dents in degree programs and 25,000 more in non-degree pro grams. Kerrey, a University of Nebraska-Iincoln graduate with no background in academia, will serve as the New School’s seventh president He will earn a salary of $320,000 plus use of a Greenwich Village brownstone. “The attraction of someone like Bob is that he could bring us more visibility, broaden our con stituency and give us call on more resources,” trustee Philip Scaturro told The New York Times. Red Cross looks to students for blood drive donations BY KIMBERLY SWEET Students can save lives today and Wednesday by pulling up their sleeves and lining up in the Nebraska Union ballroom. The Campus Red Cross is holding a blood drive from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. the next two days in the Nebraska Union. Students must bring a piece of identification with their social security number, be at least 110 pounds and 17 years old to donate, said Kristin Kruse, blood drive chairwoman. So far, 762 students have signed up to give blood, which is almost 100 more than last year, Kruse said. More staff will be on hand this year to handle the increased numbers, she said. Kruse encouraged students, faculty and staff to take an hour out of their day to donate. She said the pint of blood a person gave would save lives. “It takes an hour to donate, and in an hour you can save three lives,” Kruse said. Candidate promises more'funk/ involvement if elected to ASUN MATZENfrom pagel appointing his friend, sopho more anthropology major Steve Morrison, as “Minister of Funk.” “I feel this university has gone without funk for too long,” he said. But seriously, he said his major goal was to get students involved in ASUN as soon as possible. “If we don’t get to them, they aren’t necessarily going to come to us,” he said. Matzen said he wanted stu dents to know he was serious about running for office. He said he has put in way too much time and effort for this to just be a joke. “I encourage students to come to the debates and see I’m serious, even if I don’t act like it,” he said. Morrison, Matzen’s desig nated “Minister of Funk,” said Matzen was one of the only can didates who actually addressed issues that affect students. Morrison said Matzen, who he's known for about two years, talked about things that were actually accomplishable. "(Matzen’s) ideas are a lot less grandiose," he said. Disabilities office hires temporary director DISABILITIES from page 1 Scott Bridge, a senior family science major who visits the office frequently, agreed. Bridge said working one-on one with students was essential for making students feel at ease. Campbell said Dorothy’s pri mary function was to interact between other departments on campus that refer students to the office, which could entail meeting with students and parents. Although Dorothy spent her first day getting to know the staff, Campbell said a newsletter would be sent out inviting students to come and meet Dorothy. Jodie Engstler, a senior special education and deaf education major, said she felt confident the process of hiring a new director would find someone who under stood students’ needs. Engstler said she wanted to see the office as aplaceforinterac tion. “I would like to see the office as a welcoming place for the stu dents,” she said. Morrison said he wasn’t sur prised when he learned Matzen was running for president. “John Matzen is capable of just about anything,” Morrison said. “He’s a big, weird genius,” -1 ▼ \ •• >: Guaranteed growth never looked so good! No one knows what the market has in store. Which is why making TIAA's Traditional Annuity a part of your diversified retirement portfolio seems very smart indeed. TIAA Traditional Annuity guarantees your principal and a minimum interest rate for life, backed by TIAA's claims paying ability. Plus it offers the potential for added growth through dividends. You'll be happy to know that TIAA's total interest rate for retirement plan contributions is now 7%.* But that's not surprising. TIAA's net rate of return has outpaced the industry average since we first began declaring dividends in 1948. 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