The 20th century witnessed the establishment of a strong tradition of student activism on college campuses as a catalyst for social change. This connection was solidified with college involvement in the social movements of the 1960s. Famous examples of this tradition include the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in the Civil Rights Movement, or the student activism which helped to bring apartheid down in South Africa.
By contrast, college students of today, especially at liberal arts schools such as Wooster, are often stereotyped as overly idealistic yet ineffectual activists, with a faÁade of social or political consciousness but no actions to support this idealism. This stereotype, while containing a grain of truth, is not always accurate.
The task of creating real social change that goes beyond a campus community is often desired, but is complicated by the challenges of organizing, generating interest across a diverse student body and getting outside cooperation from the administration or from the community.
The student body of Wooster is as socially conscious as that of any school, demonstrated by the prevalence of student activism on campus, but there remains the challenge of translating this consciousness into a real change in the world.
This semester, a campaign on campus has begun that provides an opportunity for student activism to break the “Wooster Bubble,” and create an engagement between the consciousness of the student body and the world at large.
As many have been made aware by now, there is an active campaign to affiliate with the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), an influential labor rights monitoring organization.
The WRC investigates the working conditions of factories which produce apparel with the Wooster logo, including athletic jerseys and the popular clothing items sold in the bookstore, holding these factories to a school-drafted code of ethics.
Just as the student movements of the 1960s and 1970s were a response to the glaring and prominent injustices of society, the anti-sweatshop movement supported by WRC shows a movement against a less news-catching, yet just as troubling, social justice issue and indicates a direction in student activism.
The WRC as an organization is itself a direct product of student activism, as is its parent organization, United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS). Both of these groups were established by university students and administrators.
As a part of this campaign, I have seen firsthand how effective it has been at growing a new social consciousness on campus for this important issue.
Events by the Wooster Democratic Socialists and Peace by Peace have made the topic of sweatshop labor a concern for many students, to the extent that it is now common for organizations to ask us which clothing companies are guaranteed to be sweat-free.
The Wooster student body has demonstrated that it is willing to take on the challenge of true social change, and our campaign has now begun dialogue with the administration. As more groups and individuals continue to become interested in the issue and add their support to the cause, the likelihood that Wooster apparel will be guaranteed to be sweatshop-free becomes greater.
Our campaign among the student body is continuing, and our final major event of the year will be a discussion about the ramifications of sweatshop labor by activist Erik Rosenberg and author Mark Engler in Kauke Tower.
The WRC has already inspired a new consciousness on campus. The next step is implementing it.