As of July 2007, 173 colleges and universities have affiliated with the Worker Rights Consortium (an independent monitoring agency) and over 30 more have signed onto the United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) Designated Suppliers Program. The USAS' "Sweat-Free Campus Campaign" has garnered national attention through sit-ins and protests to university administration in the demand for fair-trade college apparel.

In what the New York Times called, "the biggest surge in campus activism in nearly two decades," students at over 200 universities are urging their administrations to switch from clothing bearing their college logos to fair-trade organic cotton. Cornell, Duke and Georgetown are among the 100 colleges that have met the USAS' "Sweat-Free Campus Campaign" demand for fair-trade college apparel. "Through setting collegiate codes of conduct, obtaining factory information and affiliating schools with the Worker Rights Consortium (an independent monitoring agency), we exert continuous pressure on administrations and corporations," says Allie Robbins, USAS organizer.

Why Organic?

Worldwide cotton production annually uses 53 million pounds of pesticides and 1.6 billion pounds of synthetic fertilizers. Despite claims of reducing pesticides, genetically engineered cotton could increase pesticide resistance and harm other species, according to the British Medical Association. Fair-made organic cotton clothing replaces environmentally and socially exploitive products with sustainable products, according to the Organic Consumers Association (OCA). And the Sustainable Cotton Project urges college bookstores to sell organic cotton apparel, with success in California at Chico and Humboldt state.

For More Information

• USAS (202-NO-SWEAT, www.studentsagainstsweatshops.org)
• OCA (218-226-4164, www.organicconsumers.org/clothes/index.cfm)
• Worker Rights Consortium (202-387-4884, www.workersrights.org)