UNC sit-in enters fifth day

CHAPEL HILL -- A student sit-in outside the chancellor's office at UNC-Chapel Hill entered its fifth day this morning. The students are demanding the university join a new anti-sweatshop monitoring program.

Twenty-three people remained inside South Building when the doors closed Friday night, said Salma Mirza, a senior history major who organized the sit-in. Police allowed people to leave but not re-enter the building during the weekend. By this morning four students remained, Mirza said. Ten more joined this morning, she said.

Mirza said this is the longest such protest since students occupied South Building to demand the establishment of a freestanding black cultural center in 1993. That protest ended when students moved into the chancellor's office and were arrested. Mirza would not say whether students were considering moving into the chancellor's office this time.

The sit-in follows a similar anti-sweatshop protest at Appalachian State University. Six students there were charged with disorderly conduct and trespassing.

The UNC-CH students want the university to join the Designated Suppliers Program. They said that would ensure clothing with the UNC-CH logo would be made in factories where workers earned a living wage. Students said they have also petitioned UNC system President Erskine Bowles to put all UNC schools on the program.

In a statement, UNC-CH said it is committed to improving conditions for workers and is a member of two labor monitoring organizations. It said an advisory committee to Chancellor James Moeser had explored joining the Designated Suppliers Program beginning in 2005 but didn't reach consensus.

Moeser last week he told the protesters he supported their right to be heard on the issue.

Campus officials have set ground rules for the protest, which they said were intended to protect the students' health and safety. Protesters have been told they must respect university property, not disrupt operations during normal business hours, not occupy any offices and not exceed the fire marshal's posted capacity for the rotunda.

The students have set up a Web site with video of the protest at dsp4unc.wordpress.com.