SMC sends constituents to WRC
By MOLLY McVOY
Saint Mary's Editor
The constituents from Saint Mary's who attended the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) convention felt it was successful and informative and are looking forward to the national university caucus meeting on April 28.
"I think we're very happy we joined and are very proud to be in the beginnings," said Sandy Vanderwerven, manager of the Saint Mary's Bookstore who attended the first conference and will be attending the second. "It felt very good to be a part of that group."
This meeting was the first meeting of all of the members of the WRC, and will be followed by several more this year before the organization gets the details of its functions worked out.
"For me, the most valuable part of the weekend, was to get a real sense of where the WRC was and what sort of help we were going to get in influencing our manufacturers," said Betsy Station, an assistant to the president who attended.
The weekend involved lecturers who spoke on the conditions of sweatshops and a discussion of how the group is going to be governed. Initially, the proposal was for representatives of the consortium's three constituents to govern the WRC. Three student representatives, three university representatives and six representatives from the Advisory Council were to comprise the governing board. The constituents had not made a final decision regarding whether or not this is the appropriate board to govern the consortium. It will be discussed further at later meetings of the WRC.
The contacts and information provided at the weekend were invaluable for the Saint Mary's, the College representatives said.
"We made really important contacts with our constituents," said Station. "Indiana schools, and other women's liberal arts colleges are doing the same things we're trying to do, and it was very important to make contacts with them."
The first meeting was only open to members of the WRC, but the university caucus on April 28 will be open to schools outside of the WRC who are looking for information on the group. Vanderwerven will be the College's representative to this meeting.
All News Stories for Wednesday, April 19, 2000
