Activists plan for Penn Relays protests

Penn Students Against Sweatshops is giving the University community one more reason to pay attention to the largest track and field event in the world -- only, instead of athletes, the group's focus will be on the companies that outfit them. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, as the Penn Relays are in full swing at Franklin Field, PSAS will be protesting against Nike's involvement in the athletic event. The group will also be acting in opposition to Penn's choice to make John Capriotti, the director of Nike's track and field and running division, an honorary referee at the Relays. The protest will take the form of a small tent city -- a group of about three tents -- just outside Franklin Field near the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. "We're not doing this against any of the athletes," PSAS member and College of General Studies student Melissa Byrne said. Byrne added that PSAS is protesting working conditions at the Kukdong factory, which manufactures Nike merchandise in the Puebla state in Mexico, although the company does not own this factory. "Nike still violates the spirit of the code of conduct," Byrne said about the code of conduct established by Penn's Committee on Manufacturer Responsibility. PSAS first gained notoriety last February when the group staged a nine-day sit-in in College Hall, demanding that the University withdraw from Fair Labor Association and join the Worker Rights Consortium, a rival labor monitoring organization. Penn now belongs to both groups. PSAS members will be distributing information about Nike and sweatshops in general, and will urge students and passersby alike to either discard or cover up their Nike "Swooshes" to keep from advertising for the company. Penn Athletic Department officials said that they were not aware of plans for the protest. "This is the first that we've heard of this, and we have no knowledge of these events," Athletic Department spokeswoman Carla Shultzberg said. PSAS members also criticized Penn for its decision to honor a Nike official. Organizers also said there would likely be other activity throughout the weekend. Not only may a banner be dropped on Franklin Field, but a "barefoot for justice march" on Locust Walk may take place with former St. John's University soccer coach Jim Keady, who was fired for opposing Nike's involvement with merchandise at his former school.

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