Sweatshop Debate Students Seek Changes in Clothes-Licensing Deals

SWEATSHOP DEBATE STUDENTS SEEK CHANGES IN CLOTHES-LICENSING DEALS:[CHICAGOLAND FINAL Edition]
Pamela J Appea, Washington Bureau. Chicago Tribune Chicago, Ill.:
Mar 27, 1999. p. 10

(Copyright 1999 by the Chicago Tribune)

In a burst of campus activism, college students around the country are staging sit-ins and other protests in hopes of ending "poor and inhumane" working conditions at factories licensed to produce clothing bearing their school names.

In response, some colleges and universities are adopting measures intended to remedy sweatshop conditions at overseas apparel factories. Seventeen colleges and universities, including Harvard, Yale and Duke, earlier this month announced they would join a new factory-monitoring group, the Fair Labor Association, which has established a code of conduct for apparel producers in addition to providing measures for monitoring plants for violations.

The anti-sweatshop movement has gained momentum with successes on campuses such as Georgetown University, where students in February occupied the president's office for 85 hours before reaching an agreement for the university to exercise stricter control over its apparel licensing, including disclosure of plants producing university-branded apparel.

Anti-sweatshop action also has increased in recent weeks at universities such as the University of Arizona, University of North Carolina and UCLA. Student activists say they are "actively" negotiating with school administrators over apparel-licensing provisions that include "livable" wages, protection against child labor and sexual harassment, and measures permitting factory workers to unionize.

"Many of us are proud of our universities and can't live with the idea of seeing our mascots dragged through the mud by our universities' collusion with sweatshop labor," said Thomas Wheatley, 24, a sociology graduate student at the University of Wisconsin- Madison and member of the Madison Anti-Sweatshop Coalition.

Students at the University of Michigan, after a 51-hour president's office sit-in, claimed victory earlier this month when the administration endorsed a code of conduct and said it will require licensees to provide full disclosure of manufacturing locations.

However, Michigan sophomore Peter Romer-Friedman, 19, a founder of Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality, said many Michigan students think they have not yet reached a "complete agreement, but rather a down payment to an agreement," because the university has not accepted a timeline on obtaining livable workers' wages.

In the past several years, public awareness on sweatshops has spurred student activists who say they are motivated by the desire to uphold a truly "global economy" in which factory workers have fair and safe conditions.

According to Tico Almedia, 22, a senior at Duke University, public awareness of factory conditions became a pressing issue after the media spotlighted Kathy Lee Gifford's popular clothing line--which reports revealed were made in a Honduran sweatshop--and conditions at plants producing Nike products.

The student activism has support from organized labor, including UNITE, the textile and apparel workers union, which often has sought to draw attention to abusive working conditions at foreign apparel manufacturing plants that supply U.S. retailers.

Stanley Ikenberry, president of the American Council on Education, said the Fair Labor Association provides an effective way for colleges and universities to address sweatshop code-of-conduct issues.

The association, developed with the encouragement of the White House and the Labor Department, is composed of several human- rights groups and some prominent manufacturers such as Nike Inc. and Reebok International Ltd., whose practices have been criticized in the past.

The FLA code of conduct prohibits forced labor, discrimination and child labor in internationally based factories or free-trade zones, where collegiate apparel is produced. "We will enter into licensing agreements only with companies that meet FLA standards," said a spokesperson for Princeton University.

In his letter to the education council's membership of 1,800 colleges and universities, Ikenberry said that while the Fair Labor Association accord is "not a perfect agreement, it does lay the foundation for creating a practical and enforceable monitoring system that will help improve working conditions."

The colleges and universities affiliating with the Fair Labor Association are the University of Arizona, Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Duke University, Florida State University, Harvard University, Marymount University, the University of Notre Dame, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, Rutgers University, Smith College, Tufts University, Wellesley College and Yale University.

But some student activists, including Nora Rosenberg, 19, a Brown University sophomore, are skeptical that the Fair Labor Association will produce results.

Charging that its code of conduct is "inherently flawed," Rosenberg asserted that the agreement embodies a "conflict of interest" that may enable the association's corporate board members to influence how their plants and suppliers are monitored.

Under the Fair Labor Association's proposed code of conduct, selected factories will be inspected at announced times to receive the Fair Labor Association's stamp of approval. Rosenberg said that FLA board members may be able to influence the selection of supposedly independent factory monitors.

Performance is Driver Behind Alt Allocations

Performance is Driver Behind Alt Allocations
By Pamela Appea
Alternative Investment News

The numbers are in—hedge funds are out front, driving institutions to allocate into the arena. With alternative investments beating the traditional stock and bond markets, institutional investors are expected to continue their move into hedge funds in 2001.

Buoyed by the sector’s strong performance, in general, many investment officers at pension plans, foundation and endowments are looking at entering or increasing their investments in these alternatives, consultants said. Hedge fund managers also report an uptick in interest from institutional investors.

“Last year told the story, and that convinced people who were sitting on the fence,” said Terry Jones, managing director at New York-based Arden Asset Management, a market-neutral fund of funds. “They really had to see it to believe it.”

Indeed 2000 was a banner year for hedge funds which, according to the Hennessee Hedge Fund Review returned 6.25% for the year, outperforming the Nasdaq Stock Market (-39.72%), the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (-9.73%) and the Lipper Mutual Fund index (9.54%.)

“Last year was the first year, in perhaps five, that hedge funds really proved the mettle,” added Ross Ellis, a consultant at Oaks, Pennsylvania-based SEI investments.

Charles Gradante, a principal at the Hennessee Group, said it is clear that more institutions are choosing to invest with hedge funds. Preliminary figures from the Hennessee Group’s soon-to-be-completed annual survery show a large jump in institutional investors.

“The initial results ….indicate …2001 will entail the largest increase in institutional allocations to hedge funds—ever,” Gradante said.

Market Neutral, Arb Strats Seen as Top Picks
Market neutral hedge funds, which returned 7.05% last year, according to the Hennessee Hedge Fund Review, will continue to be in top demand, predicted consultants and hedge fund managers. These funds have relatively low votality, and though their returns may fall far short of stellar, they ae uncorrelated to traditional bond and stock markets. Because of the sector’s characteristics, Joseph Aaron, president of the hedge fund consultancy Wood, Hat & Silver said he felt it would continue to be a good fit for institutional investors.

Merger and convertible arbitrage strategies, which according to Hennessee, returned 17% and 8.61% in 2000, will also be strong draws for institutional monies, predicted Jones. Whereas most hedge funds often tinker with their styles, the arbitrage strategists tend to stay more true to form, he noted. Institutional investors are far less tolerant to style drift than affluent investors.

For those looking for higher returns and willing to take on more risk, healthcare/biotech and distressed debt strategies are worth watching, consultants recommended. The healthcare/biotech sector which was the top-performing last year, at 62.37% could present a high-risk high-reward opportunity through the first half of the year, predicted Richard

Bookbinder, a general partner and portfolio manager for Roebling Fund LP, a New York City-based fund of funds that invests in about 10 different low-volatility strategies. George Abraham, a hedge fund manager for he Arlington, Virginia-based biotech fund Friedman Billings Ramsey, underscored biotech is a long-term strategy. He noted between research trials and waiting for Food and Drug Administration approval, the final product can take up to 10 years to appear, and, consequently show a profit.

Many in the industry are predicting distressed debt may provide lucrative opportunities, but they underscored this is a risky strategy. Gradante said while most in the industry feel distressed debt will do well, he feels it is premature to say there is an abundance of opportunity in the market. Scott Reid, managing director of the Portfolio Management Group, said distressed debt will be a challenging place to make money, as it always has been.

“There are opportunities and you have to be very, very selective.” He emphasized highly experienced managers will probably see the best results. Emphasizing the risk, Gradante noted a slew of big-name companies are in danger of going out of business, such as Xerox, Friend’s Ice Cream, Grand Union Supermarkets, Rand McNally, TransWorld Airlines and Chiquita Banana. “There are winners and losers,” Gradante said.

“Those companies that were ahead of the [technology] curve are taking market shares away from the weaker companies.” Institutions may want more hedge fund investments, but that doesn’t mean hedge funds necessarily want their money. Many hedge funds are not eager to take institutional money, noted Aaron.

Echoing Aaron, Gradante estimated 40-50% of hedge fund managers are not interested in taking institutional money. Still, recently some larger hedge funds have shown an increased interest in courting institutional investors, he added.

A key breakthrough for pension funds investing in altenatives came in the summer of 1999, when The California Public Employees’ Retirement System announced it was planning on investing a whopping $11.25 billion in hedge funds, noted Jones.

Although the initial commitment was later decreased to $1 billion, in the nearly two years since then, other pension plans have followed suit, significantly increasing their involvement with alternative investments. And the same trend is beginning in several European and Asian countries. The choppy markets of last year, coupled with the sector’s strong performance has opened the doors to making institutions increasingly important investors in the sector.

Copyright 2001 by Pamela Appea.
Alternative Investment News, of Institutional Investor.

Food Stamp Applications Down, but Hunger Continues, Relief Group Says

Hundreds of thousands of eligible recipients are passing up food stamps so they can avoid missing work, waiting on long lines at the county welfare office and filling out lengthy and intrusive applications, a report finds.

Over the past four years, food stamp applications across the U.S. have decreased by more than 33% to a participation rate of only $17 million people in the first quarter of 2000, says America’s Second Harvest, a hunger relief organization based in Chicago.

Marcus Fruchter, senior policy associate at America’s Second Harvest, says the demand for food remains constant, with 31 million people in the U.S. “food insecure”—hungry or at risk of going hungry.

Fruchter says he’s hopeful low food stamp participation rates won’t affect the program’s funding. He says aggressive outreach to vulnerable populations will help make food stamps work better before its reauthorization in 2002.

“The obstacles the poor and the hungry face to become self-sufficient are often daunting enough for most people,” the report says.

“Federal rules and state administration should not be creating a red tape divide for needy and hungry people.”

Second Harvest recommends federal policy makers simplify and shorten food stamp applications so more eligible people will apply.

While the strong economy accounts for some of the decline in food stamp applications, one-third of people potentially eligible for the food stamp program don’t participate, the report says.

People who are eligible for food stamps feel discouraged by red tape and the stringent application process, the report says. To compensate, more are relying on help from charity groups and food banks like Second Harvest.

The survey finds 29 states and the District of Columbia have food stamp applications 10-36 pages long. And some applications ask for detailed information on childrens’ income and bank accounts; income from baby-sitting; charity and gifts from churches and synagogues and income from panhandling; bingo winnings, plasma donation and garage sales, the report says.

Info: 800/771-2303; For a copy of the report, www.secondharvest.org. USDA, 202/720/3631.

Copyright 2000 by Pamela Appea for Family Services Report, Community Development Publications.

A Bitter Pill? Black Boys and Ritalin

By Pamela Appea

pjappea@hotmail.com

It’s a common September scenario. A child refuses to stay in his seat or won’t stop acting out in class. He’s restless and fidgety and he likes to talk and talk…and talk. Frustrated teachers quickly think of ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), and equally frustrated parents quickly acquiesce to requests that their child be evaluated and possibly medicated.

It’s a difficult decision to make, especially amid growing concern that children are being overdiagnosed and overmedicated, especially with the ADD/ADHD miracle drug, Ritalin. A study from the Journal of the American Medical Association found the use of drugs like Ritalin among children aged two to fourteen tripled in the 1990s.

When this problem child is black, the complications only increase. While many in the black community have decried a rush to medicate minority children, especially boys, with Ritalin and other drugs, others have argued that black boys, while disproportionately diagnosed with learning difficulties, in fact receive far less treatment than other students.

“There are a lot of children suffering,” says Dr. Marilyn Benoit, a child psychiatry expert at George Washington University “Many don’t get the treatment they need.”

What they do often get, Benoit and others agree, is a stigmatizing label, and sometimes a one-way ticket to special education classes. The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University found in a 2001 study that black public school students in the US are three times more likely than whites to be identified as mentally retarded or in need of special education services. In addition, the study said, black students with learning disabilities are often misdiagnosed as being “emotionally disturbed.”

Beyond ADD and ADHD, kids now are tested for a veritable alphabet soup of disorders, including Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) and Pervasive Development Disorder (PDD). But with symptoms for ODD like “often argues with adults,” “often loses temper” and “often deliberately annoys people,” many parents – and teachers – wonder how to tell the difference between a bona fide medical condition and the behavior of a grumpy, spoiled or bratty child.

Such broad definitions, when combined with studies like Harvard’s that suggest how quickly black children are seen as “trouble,” make for a combustible combination.

“I know that a lot of black boys are labeled as having behavior problems and are placed in Special Ed. Classrooms,” says Xoli Dyasi, a fifth-grade teacher in the New York public schools.

The National Medical Association, a DC-based group promoting the interests of black doctors and patients, has spoken out against the disproportionate placement of African American children into special education programs.

Still, Dyasi says, some children do have learning disabilities and benefit from the diagnosis, when followed by proper treatment. She says she leaves the diagnosing to the school psychiatrist. Therein lies the problem, some minority child advocates say. Most teachers are not like Dyasi — a rush to Ritalin is common, with teachers sending notes home to parents demanding that their children be medicated.

What children do need medication? ADHD experts like Dr. Laurence Greenhill, at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, say some tell-tale signs of ADHD among young children are an “insatiable” curiosity or “excessive” temper tantrums. “A child with ADHD may appear restless, aggressive, demanding, argumentative, or noisy,” Greenhill says. Evelyn Polk Green, president of Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD), a Landover, Maryland-based advocacy group, lists some real life examples – the child who has no friends or playmates, who has been expelled from day care centers, who is no longer welcome at larger family functions – that indicate the potential need for medication.

Polk Green, a Chicago resident, early childhood educator and parent of an ADHD teenager, says she struggled with the idea of medicated her child. “His temper tantrums were long and uncontrollable, yet he could be the sweetest, most loving child in the world,” she said.

And it wasn’t the amount of discipline her son received, she says, recalling how she and her husband tried every trick in the book. “None of the standard behavior modification techniques seemed to work,” she says. “Eventually, my husband and I realized that we could not do this alone.”

She says she initially worried ADHD medications would transform her smart, creative son into a zombie. But the decision paid off. Polk Green said her son is doing well today — still on medication but an active, college-bound high school student.Success stories like Polk Greens combine many factors – concerned, committed parents being the main one – that many kids diagnosed with ADD/ADHD lack. When parents lack health insurance, or the school system is uncooperative or even hostile, the results can be disastrous.

Despite laws like Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA, an amendment that advocates blended classrooms, (in conjunction with the Education for all Handicapped Children Act of 1975), children diagnosed with learning disabilities are often placed in special ed classrooms, taught a watered-down curriculum, or tracked into nonacademic programs.
And even when an ADHD-diagnosed student stays in a regular class, he or she faces counseling sessions, special group times, break times for medication, and other specialized parent-teacher meetings. The stigma can spread to a student’s peers. It’s not a secret who has ADHD, especially among urban school districts. Just ask the kids who takes medication and who doesn’t – they always know.

“I am actually torn with this topic,” said Dyasi. “I think that some medications do more harm than good for the child who is diagnosed as having ADHD. It may work for some kids and it may not. I think it really depends on the seriousness of the symptoms. It's really up to, I think, the experts – the doctors whose interest are really the children and not the doctors who are willing to only test out medications on children that may not need it.”At the same time, she says, all disruptive children should be evaluated immediately once they get into school—at age five or six – rather than letting problems fester.The topic of black children and medication is so controversial that one staff member at Florida A & M university in Tallahassee asked not to be identified when she said she feels more kids and adolescents within the African American community probably should be on medication. While not a popular opinion, her argument is echoed by recent findings in one Virginia school district that, while 17 percent of white boys are on Ritalin, only 9 percent of black boys are. All agree that parents and teachers must communicate better about ADHD and other learning disabilities, and that parents should inform themselves of their children’s rights and the medical and non-medical options for treatment. After that, says Polk Green, you just make the best decision for your child.

“Taking meds is a huge decision and should not be taken lightly,” Polk Green said, but adds, “if my child needed glasses or a hearing aide, or insulin or even chemotherapy, I wouldn’t hesitate to give him the treatment he needed.”

(This is an unpublished article prepared for http://www.africana.com/ in 2002)

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E-mail me at pjappea@hotmail.com. Thanks!