Drawing confused looks from passers-by Wednesday afternoon
on Library Mall at the University of Wisconsin, a crowd of about 50 students
stood still in various poses for five minutes as the latest flashmob on campus.

The flashmob was organized by the Student Labor Action
Committee to draw the attention of UW Chancellor John Wiley and pressure him to
end the licensing contract between UW and Adidas.

“He’s refused to meet with us, so we just have to try
to get him to know in as many ways as we can,” SLAC member Phoebe Taurick
said.

Flashmob participants milled around between Memorial Library
and University Bookstore until the signal was given at 12:15 p.m. to freeze.
They all selected poses and held them for five minutes.

Jan Van Tol, a member of SLAC and the UW Labor Licensing
Policy Committee that advises the chancellor on licensing issues, said he
thought the flashmob was successful in making a strong statement.

“I think it was definitely successful,” Van Tol
said. “I heard a lot of people asking about it and wondering what we were
doing.”

However, several observers disagreed.

“It’s really eye-catching and gets peoples’
attention,” UW senior Danielle Russell said. “I’m not sure that what
they’re doing is really getting their purpose across.”

Russell added while the group had a 4-foot by 3-foot photo
of Wiley, they did not explain the connection.

Todd Tannenbaum, UW computer sciences researcher, also said
he did not think the demonstration was an effective way to make a point.

“Considering I had no idea what they were trying to
convey until someone told me, probably not,” Tannenbaum said.

According to Van Tol, Adidas is guilty of workers’ rights
abuses at a now-closed factory in Hermosa, El Salvador that Adidas used for
production. He said Adidas has dragged its feet for years in the effort to
improve the situation for the workers.

Van Tol said SLAC might be satisfied if the chancellor does
not just recommend but demands Adidas meets the benchmarks set by the Labor
Licensing Policy Committee to provide jobs for the unemployed in Hermosa at a
certain rate.

“We want timelines, we want numbers and a credible
threat of a contract cut to back it up,” Van Tol said. “We want UW to
make clear to whoever it contracts next, it must follow a code of
conduct.”

Dawn Crim, special assistant to the chancellor, said Adidas
is making efforts to improve the situation in Hermosa. She added while Adidas
was not the only company working in the plant when it closed, it is the only
company doing anything to try to help the workers.

“The way our contracts are set up we give our companies
an opportunity to remedy the problem,” Crim said.

Van Tol said Wiley does not want to cut the Adidas contract
because it is worth so much, unlike the New Era contract Wiley cut earlier this
year.

According to Crim this is not the case.

“There is no contract that we have with a brand that we
would not contemplate cancelling a license,” Crim said.

Crim added while the apparel industry is “a bad
industry” because it is exploitive, “being engaged with companies has
a far greater impact on an industry than cutting a tie.”

She said UW did a good thing by severing ties with New Era
but the company is still producing hats for many other schools and
organizations, adding “the cancelling of the contract has had little to no
impact.”

In response to Van Tol’s assertion, Crim said Wiley is
“hesitant to do anything really significant in his last few months”
as chancellor.

“He would not be engaging the CEO of a global company
if he did not care about the issue,” she said.

— Becky Vevea contributed to this report.