College students throughout the country have been protesting lax codes of conduct intended to prevent the illegal manufacturing of university-licensed merchandise.

Students at the University of Wisconsin, Duke University and Georgetown University have been protesting their schools’ codes of conduct because they say the codes lack stipulations that would prevent the manufacturing of school apparel in sweatshops.

UW students felt the code being accepted by the administration was not rigid enough because it did not force the companies to compensate workers with a “living wage” or to provide full disclosure of factory locations, according to UW’s student newspaper the Badger Herald.

“We recognized [the code] for the weak and inadequate cop-out that it was,” said Thomas Wheatley, member of United Students Against Sweatshops at UW.

More than 100 college campuses nationwide have formed chapters of USAS to combat the manufacturing of school products in sweatshops.

Wheatley and other members of the USAS worked to have a “living wage,” full public disclosure and increased rights for women added to the code.

Public disclosure is controversial because many companies feel it would place too much information in the hands of competitors.

Without including public disclosure in the codes of conduct, companies such as Nike and Reebok are not held accountable as to where and under what conditions their products are made.

In February, members of the UW chapter of the USAS held a five day sit-in in the office of the president.

“Out of the sit-in came agreement,” Wheatley said. “Prior to that [the administration] made almost zero moves.”

Nearly $270,000 each year is generated for Iowa State from the sale of products, ranging from sweatshirts to cocoa, marked with an ISU logo.

Strides are being made to adopt a code of conduct at ISU, but currently, nothing has been established, said Anita Lovejoy, program manager for the Office of Licenses and Patents.

ISU must either establish its own code of conduct or accept one from another organization or university, she said.

ISU has joined the Association of Collegiate Licensing Administrators, along with about 350 other universities, to find a way to deal with increasing problems involved with labor standards, Lovejoy said.

“Most schools have not adopted a code,” she said. “Most [schools] are concerned about the enforcement issue.”

Lovejoy said since ISU holds licenses with more than 400 companies, it is difficult to enforce a code of conduct.

ISU requires that companies “comply with all labor standards,” but currently, there is no monitoring system to see that this actually occurs, she said. A monitoring system and code of conduct currently are in the works by the Fair Labor Association, which ISU is considering joining.

“We have reviewed the FLA proposal internally,” Lovejoy said. “[There are] a lot of unanswered questions, and we want to be cautious about joining a group.”

She said her major concern with the FLA’s code of conduct is that it would be too difficult for smaller companies to comply with.

“Our requirement will be too much of a burden for smaller companies, and bigger companies will take over,” she said.

Wheatley said students from universities nationwide, religious groups and other anti-sweatshop groups are uniting to reject the FLA.

“We need real, true external monitoring where there is no conflict of interest,” he said. “FLA is a big step backwards. It’s an easy way out for the universities.”

Administrators from the UW have been hesitant to reject the FLA because “it is the only game in town,” Wheatley said. “We want to make another game.”

Lovejoy said it is important to compromise with the companies because they must be able to comply with the codes.

Some universities have codes that are too general, and other universities have codes that are too specific, she said.

“The licensee must decide whether they will accept the code,” Lovejoy said. “You have to have all of the parties agree to the code in order to implement it.

“We are trying to do a balancing act here,” she said. “We have licensees saying there is no way we can comply, and then we have the activist groups saying they aren’t strong enough.”

Paul Tanaka, director of University Legal Services, said this is a complex issue because if regulations are too strict, companies will not renew their licenses with ISU.

“If you set your standards that high, those countries are not going to benefit at all because goods will not be manufactured there,” he said.

“If it encourages everyone simply not to manufacture in lesser-developed countries, I don’t know if we’re helping anybody,” Tanaka said.

Wheatley disagrees that making regulations too stiff will harm Third World countries.

“If a company like Reebok refused to abide by stipulations, then some other company will step in,” he said.

Wheatley said large companies make too much money from university sales to turn their backs because of some added regulation.