STAFF EDITORIAL: Sweatshops: The next step

The College Hall sit-in lasted for eight days. The University must now focus on the more difficult deliberations ahead. But the more difficult tasks -- developing a code of conduct and choosing between the FLA and the rival Worker Rights Consortium -- still lie ahead. We are pleased that the sit-in ended amicably. The task force created last week by Rodin will select the monitoring organization best suited to enforce the University's principles. And we are glad that the committee will bring administrators, sweatshop activists and other constituencies together at the discussion table. This process is on the right track. When the University joined the FLA last March, it did so without consulting the student body. Now, with the protests all but concluded and a roundly supported committee in place, the University can make the right decisions in the right manner for the right reasons. It bears noting that yesterday's agreement does not represent a complete repudiation of the FLA by the University. We support the move to withdraw from the organization, however, as it allows Penn to choose between the FLA and the WRC with a clean slate. We eagerly await the task force's recommendations, due to be delivered to Rodin by the end of this month. Both the FLA and the WRC have advantages and disadvantages that the committee will have to carefully weigh against each other. And we ultimately hope that the University chooses an appropriate and effective means for enforcing the code of conduct it creates. We would be remiss to forget the protesters in College Hall who deserve much of the credit for the recent turn of events. By making the very important issue of sweatshops a topic of conversation around campus, the members of PSAS performed a valuable service to the Penn community.