**ALERT: Students Occupy Chancellor's Office- Demand No Sweatshops, No Union Busting

Fri Apr 18 13:38:20 EDT 2008

    *Students Occupy Chancellor's Office
*NO Sweatshops!
NO Union busting!*

*About 10 students from UNC Chapel Hill's SAW - (Student Action with 
Workers) - which includes several members of Raleigh FIST - as well as 
members of UNC SDS, SPEAC (Solidarity with Palestine through Education 
and Action), and USAS - have been occupying the Chancellor's office for 
24 hours now - demanding that the University sign on to the DSP - 
Designated Supplier Program - that would ensure that apparral made with 
the UNC logo is made by workers free from anti-union intimidation and 
full rights to organize - - demanding "Stop Union Busting" and "UNC 
Sweatfree" - *the students have committed to staying as long as it takes 
- and are prepared to continue the occupation through the weekend.*

How to Support the Students:

_*CALL CHANCELLOR MOESER*_ at 919-962-1365 and tell him you support the 
students who are sitting in at his office and demand that he immediately 
adopt the DSP!

Hello, my name is ________ and I am a ________ from ______. I was 
shocked to discover that North Carolina clothes are produced in 
sweatshops. I urge you to listen to your students, adopt the DSP, and 
refrain from any kind of disciplinary action. Thank you.

Press Release

STUDENTS OCCUPY CHANCELLOR MOESER'S OFFICE, RISK ARREST

15 students follow the lead of students at Penn State, Montana, and 
Appalachian State by holding a sit-in to demand a sweatfree UNC, support 
rally planned at 4:30 pm at South Building

Thursday, April 17- Riding a wave of student sit-ins that has been 
sweeping the nation, students at the University of North Carolina Chapel 
Hill have just occupied Chancellor Moeser's office.  15 students have 
stated that they refuse to leave the building until Chancellor Moeser 
agrees to a sweatfree policy called the Designated Suppliers Program 
(DSP).  This is the fourth sit-in in support of this policy in the last 
week, with students already having been arrested at Pennsylvania State 
University, University of Montana, and another UNC system school, 
Appalachian State University.  Students, workers, and community members 
will be mobilizing to march on the South Building at 4:30 in 
anticipation of the building's closure, and possible student arrests, at 
5:00 pm.

For the past three years, students at the Chapel Hill campus have 
demanded that Chancellor Moeser adopt the DSP, a policy that has been 
proposed at more than 150 schools by different chapters of United 
Students Against Sweatshops.  The DSP would ensure that university 
logoed apparel is produced in factories where workers earn enough to 
support a family and have the right to form a union.  Despite the 
overwhelming support of students, community members, and the more than 
20 organizations that make up the Carolina Sweatfree Coalition, 
Chancellor Moeser has still refused to follow the lead of the 42 other 
universities, including Duke, who have already signed on to the DSP. "As 
UNC students we would like to wear our Carolina gear with pride," said 
Salma Mirza, a senior history major at UNC Chapel Hill.  "Instead, due 
to Chancellor Moeser's inaction, our clothes continue to be made in 
factories where workers don't earn enough to support themselves, let 
alone their families."

As student protest has spread throughout the UNC system, an 
international campaign has begun to demand that the entire UNC system 
commit themselves to the principles of the DSP.  Last week, UNC 
President Erskine Bowles received phone calls, emails, and faxes from 
thousands of advocates around the world demanding that the UNC system 
follow the lead of the University of California by having all of its 
member schools adopt the DSP.  "As a Carolina Covenant Scholar, I feel 
that compromising the living and working conditions of others in order 
to fund my college education is unacceptable, especially from an 
institution that touts itself as 'the university of the people," said Ea 
Panjwani, a sophomore covenant scholar majoring in international studies.

-30-

<http://raleighfist.wordpress.com/>

<http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1041497.html>

UNC student protesters settle in as the administration building closes 
for the night. 
Photo by Harry Lynch, The News Observer 
<http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1041497.html>

*Watch Video footage of Occupation of Chancellor's Office at 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDamaTgsido*

*Other press coverage:*
http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-943741.cfm
http://media.www.dailytarheel.com/ 
<http://media.www.dailytarheel.com/media/storage/paper885/news/2008/04/18/University/Students.Protest.For.Labor-3334635.shtml>
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1041497.html
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/uncsitin

*Sign the Petition:*
http://www.petitiononline.com/uncchdsp/petition.html

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