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The straw that broke SLACs credibility

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by Badger Herald Editorial Board

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Profile that broke SLAC's credibility

"U smell like poo," Student Labor Action Committee member Ashok Kumar wrote on Chancellor John D. Wiley's Facebook profile in the early hours of November 14. "Hey cutie, you were AMAZING last night. I love that move you do with 'little willie', it felt soooooooooo good," Gerri Witthuhn wrote on the same Facebook profile Saturday afternoon.

The profile, of course, is a hoax. SLAC has tapped the social network as a campaign against the chancellor and his stance on University of Wisconsin licensing practices. The organization perceives Mr. Wiley to be soft on the question of labor exploitation and, apparently, believes that telling students he smells "like poo" will be an effective way to get their worker-friendly message across.

It isn't.

It is the final straw in a line backward, counterproductive, asinine moves that have totally incinerated SLAC's already McReputation.

UW labor licensing is a serious question and is deserves a serious debate. What SLAC is orchestrating through its online campaign ripe with scatological satire and lowbrow humor amounts to little more than a complete suicide of ethos from an organization that once had a reasonable expectation of being taken seriously.

And the greatest tragedy of the whole situation is that this campus really might benefit from a serious student advocacy group tackling the question of labor rights. An organization that would do away with pathetic media stunts and juvenile pranks could raise relevant points about UW's current policy. That the school works with a sweatshop monitoring association that replies only to complaints and that doesn't employ random, unannounced or otherwise capricious factory check-ups is a shame. Progress can be made on this front, but it will take a serious and dedicated group — something UW currently lacks.

Moreover, that SLAC members sit on UW's Labor Licensing Policy Committee only serves to hurt the credibility of that body as well. The chancellor has employed LLPC to address the many serious questions of sweatshop production — a genuine credit to Mr. Wiley and his administration. That SLAC members now constantly tarnish the image of LLPC is a pox on the university.

If SLAC's leadership and active membership truly cares about workers' rights in overseas factories, they will now resign their posts and allow serious people to do the good work this school so badly needs. Until this happens, Mr. Wiley's 1,583 Facebook "friends" will have no reason to expect anything but more of the same from the university.

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Anonymous (November 22, 2005 @ 1:39am):

Gerri Witthuhn has nothing to do with SLAC; in fact, it was written after the account was suspended, and no one from SLAC was able to delete her inappropriate and irrelevant comments.

Anonymous (November 22, 2005 @ 12:56pm):

The Badger Herald is navie. The University administration's tactic for dealing with the sweatshop issue is to keep talking about it and do nothing. They care nothing about labor rights of the the workers who sew Bucky shirts and apparel. If they had they would have signed a contract with Adidas and other licences, in cordination with other universities and organizations, saying that they must purchase apparel from union shops certified by the Worker's Rights Consortium. This would be our greatest impact as student/consumers purchasing through a major institution. The administration would rather tell us to think about privatizing the university making it more impossible for any poor or working class person to attend. The issue is about the systematic poverty and misery the textile industry creates, how we contribute to is and what we can do. The administration would rather do nothing and that is morally reprehensible.

Anonymous (November 22, 2005 @ 1:07pm):

Increasingly desperate actions are the inevitable result of lack of progress. If you'd ever met some of SLAC's leading folks like Joel Feingold, you'd know how deadly serious they were. These kids actually grapple with global policy, and they do it well.

Anonymous (November 22, 2005 @ 1:37pm):

SLAC is a serious organization. Members spend hours in meetings, reseraching, and organizing. Members are in contact with workers on the grownd that make our UW clothing. We visit their factories in the third world and we work with them to make worker empowerment a reality. Obviously. SLAC understands The seriousness of this issue and we have countless teach-ins and educational events where workers have come to speak from places like El Salvadore. However the Badtger Herald Editorial Board Chooses to find any excuse to degrade our work. TOdays excuse: a little college humor on the facebook. Pathetic and reprehensible.