> This article from The Chronicle of Higher Education > > From the issue dated September 29, 2000 > > Economists Take College Presidents to Task for Joining > Anti-Sweatshop Groups > > By JULIANNE BASINGER > > About 200 scholars, including a Nobel laureate in economics, > have signed a letter criticizing college and university > presidents for working with two anti-sweatshop groups. > > The letter was written by a half-dozen academic economists and > lawyers who specialize in international trade policy and > economic law. The group, the Academic Consortium on > International Trade, began circulating the letter in July > among other scholars to collect signatures, and plans to send > it this month to college presidents. > > The scholars' letter expresses concern over colleges' > decision-making processes in establishing codes of conduct for > American companies. Such decisions "should be made only after > careful research, discussion, and debate," it adds. > > The letter criticizes colleges' participation in two > anti-sweatshop groups: the Fair Labor Association and the > Worker Rights Consortium. The association's members include > 141 colleges and universities and a dozen > apparel-manufacturing companies. The consortium, which formed > this year, has more than 50 colleges but no manufacturers > among its members. The former has the backing of many > higher-education groups, and the latter has more support among > student activists, but the economists argue that both groups > are misguided. > > The signers of the letter include Robert Lucas, a Nobel > laureate in economics and a professor at the University of > Chicago. The document accuses college administrators of making > decisions on the basis of students' sit-ins and other campus > protests, rather than first seeking the views of academic > experts and others on campuses. > > Robert M. Stern, an economics professor at the University of > Michigan and one of the leaders of the letter-writing effort, > said that the protests of the World Trade Organization's > meeting in Seattle last year had prompted his group to act. > "We felt that most of the protest is really being > misdirected," he said. > > The scholars' letter criticizes the two anti-sweatshop groups > for urging companies to raise the wages of their workers in > developing countries above the prevailing market average for > those nations. The letter intimates that paying higher wages > would limit the number of jobs in those countries and "worsen > the collective welfare of the very workers in poor countries > who are supposed to be helped." > > Michael Posner, executive director of the Lawyers Committee > for Human Rights, one of the Fair Labor Association's > founders, disagreed. "It's not legitimate to say companies > know best," he said, and the question of living wages needs > further study. > > The association has sought to involve scholars who are experts > on the issues, he added. "I find a lot of the criticism in the > letter a bit baffling and off-base." > > Eric Brakken, one of the leaders of United Students Against > Sweatshops, a member of the consortium's board, also disagreed > with the letter. "There's a tremendous lack of understanding > about what the W.R.C. really is and how much careful study > students have done about this issue," he said. > > Moreover, many of the campus committees that colleges formed > to decide whether to participate in the consortium included > scholars from various disciplines, he added. > > The letter questions the "monitoring mechanisms established by > both the Worker Rights Consortium and Fair Labor Association," > saying they "may prove uneven and ineffective." The letter > urges colleges to consider alternatives. > > The consortium's leaders said their group hasn't developed a > monitoring agenda yet and has no plans to do so. Instead, the > group will focus on verifying workers' complaints in > individual factories, said Maria A. Roeper, the consortium's > interim director. > > The association released its monitoring benchmarks in July. > Mr. Posner said those benchmarks were similar to the standards > advocated by the letter writers.