University of Arizona seals $7 million Nike deal
■ The agreement allows
the school to inspect the
company’s factories.
Arizona Daily Wildcat
University of Arizona
TUCSON, Ariz. (U-Wire) - After
more than a year of tug of war
between UA human rights advocates
and Nike, the university emerged
Monday with a $7 million deal and
the power to call for inspection of
Nike factories.
In exchange for outfitting 14 of
the University of Arizona’s athletic
teams with the “swoosh” for five
years, Nike will shell out $1.4 mil
Uon a year for the same length of
time. The UA made the deal public
about two weeks after the contract
was formally signed Aug. 17.
“In the scheme of tilings, it ($7
million) is a very moderate number,”
UA President Peter Likins said. “The
primarily operational significance is
that it spreads the benefit among all
14 sports.”
The UA also will receive 8.5 per
cent of retail sales through the
Collegiate Licensing Co., which
markets UA apparel with Nike logos.
Beyond money matters, the con
tract includes humanitarian stipula
tions. The shoe and apparel manufac
turer created a code of conduct in
1994 after allegations of human
rights violations in overseas factories
surfaced.
Likins met in April with Nike
Chief Executive Officer Philip
Knight to request an out-clause in the
pending contract, enabling the
school to void the deal if Nike
“knowingly violates its code of con
duct or overlooks human-rights vio
lations made by subcontractors.”
“I think we’ve gone a little bit fur
ther than we did when we talked to
Philip Knight,” Likins said.
In the code, updated in May, Nike
pledges that it will not use forced
labor or child labor. Under the code,
workers are entitled to benefits man
dated by local laws, including sick
leave and minimum wage.
Included in the final contract is a
clause permitting the UA to call for
an independent investigation of con
duct overseas.
The contract states that the UA
can void the agreement if there is a
“material breach” of the code, as
determined by a “mutually agreeable
independent monitor.”
The UA can call for an indepen
dent investigation if wrongdoing is
suspected. The contract does not
state whether the UA or Nike would
pay for such an investigation.
Arne Ekstrom, a neurosciences
graduate student and head of
Students Against Sweatshops, said
he was happy to hear there was an
independent monitoring clause in the
contract but was not entirely con
vinced it would be enforced.
“We feel that most of what the
administration has done is empty,”
Ekstrom said. “1 don’t think that
most of the dialogue we have had was
effective by any means.”
He said the contract was signed
mainly for monetary gam, adding the
athletic department had “absolutely
no interest in human rights issues.”
Nike spokesman Dave Mingey
said student concerns are taken seri
ously at the athletic apparel compa
ny.
“It is very important for us to be
the leader in fair and safe labor prac
tices,” he said. “We are very con
cerned about the students’ concerns.”
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