New York University students put a new twist on the old practice of “streaking” as a group of them showed up nearly naked to protest their school’s high-priced merchandise and call attention to “worker’s rights.”
Visiting families touring the school, which charges a $91,000 annual tuition, got an eyeful as about two dozen students marched in only bras and underwear outside the college’s Kimmel Center last weekend.
They demanded the school disclose exactly where its $106 sweatshirts, $80 collared pullovers, and other items are made.
“Students, workers, stand together, solidarity forever,” the scantily clad participants chanted on April 11, the New York Post reported.
The demonstration was during the so-called Weekend on the Square, when students and their parents show up on the campus to get a flavor of life at the pricey Manhattan university.
Carrying signs that read “STOP SECRET SWEATSHOPS” and “DISCLOSE THE CLOTHES,” students of a group called Students of International Labor Solidarity (SILS) said they were protesting what they claim are garment makers’ inhumane working conditions, which were apparently supported by the university’s use of its clothing supply chain.
“We use our leverage as students to work in solidarity with garment workers making apparel that the university profits off of in our bookstore,” SILS member Saesha Jindal, a sophomore studying social and cultural analysis, told the Post.
According to the Post, “NYU’s bookstore features brands Champion, Lululemon and Nike, and sells items manufactured in countries including Pakistan, India, Jordan, Vietnam, Vancouver and the USA.”
NYU is obligated to disclose its clothing supply chains, according to the protesters.
However, the school has only shared the final factories it uses, Jindal, 19, and fellow SILS member Jamie Hesseltine told the tabloid.
“They refuse to take any actionable steps to make that happen,” said Hesseltine, a 20-year-old cultural and social analyst major.
The scantily clad students said their chapter of SILS was founded about 18 months ago, with the group demanding disclosure late last year.
Holding forth on several campuses around the U.S., the organization describes itself on its website as “committed to building student power to win dignified work for garment workers in global supply chains.”
“We hold universities and apparel brands accountable to their labor rights commitments by leveraging the contracts for manufacturing university-branded apparel,” it says.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of the Los Angeles crime novel Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
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