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Committee to consider WRC membership
 resident Thomas Jackson has established a University-wide committee, with faculty and student representatives, to consider whether the University ought to join the Workers' Right Consortium (WRC), a new organization that says it will monitor apparel manufacturing conditions abroad. The group, chaired by Associate Vice President and River Campus Dean of Students Mary-Beth Cooper, is set to have its first meeting by April 10.
Jackson declined to make a unilateral decision on the University's membership in WRC by an April 1 deadline set by students, in advance of the WRC's first meeting on April 7. There is nothing to preclude institutions from joining after the WRC's charter and philosophy become clearer, Jackson noted. "I believe it is essential to be true to our fundamental principle and tradition of examination and discussion before action. A university community, first and foremost, should be a community that does not rush to judgment without consideration of all the ramifications of its actions, particularly where the actions do not lie at the heart of the academic mission of the institution," he said in his response to students. Virtually all apparel with the University logo is sold through the Barnes & Noble campus bookstore, which is already a member of the Fair Labor Association, another group formed to monitor manufacturing conditions abroad. Also, unlike some other institutions, the University does not charge a royalty on the sale of bookstore apparel. The full text of Jackson's March 20 memo to students, as well as a follow-up memo on committee membership and deadlines, can be viewed on the Web at www.rochester.edu/living/apparel.html.
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