What began as a typical meeting of the UW System Board of Regents Friday quickly turned heated as the board decided in a contentious 10 to 4 vote to approve UW-Madison's new athletic apparel sponsorship agreement with Adidas.
Under the new contract, Adidas must allow the UW-Madison chancellor's office complete access to its labor records. If the chancellor's office finds the apparel company to be in violation of the Collegiate Licensing Company Labor Codes of Conduct, the chancellor's office, per an agreement with the board of Regents, will report the violations to the Board. At that point the contract could be terminated, according to Vice Chancellor Darrell Bazzell.
However, this agreement did not fare well among some UW-Madison students who presented an amended proposal to the board.
\UW goods are made in sweatshops. You can't deny that,"" said UW-Madison sophomore Joel Feingold, a member of the UW-Madison Student Labor Action Coalition.
The resolution Feingold and UW-Madison junior Liana Dalton presented to the board would have had required Adidas to present its records not only to a UW-Madison representative, but also to the regents, the Workers Rights Consortium and the public.
""[Adidas' employees'] rights are being systematically violated on a daily basis in the name of UW,"" Dalton said.
Defending the university's decision to go ahead with the contract despite what he referred to as questionable labor practices, Casey Nagy, UW-Madison special assistant to the chancellor, said it was ""extraordinary"" Adidas agreed to disclose its information to a UW-Madison representative.
""Full disclosure is the ultimate objective,"" Nagy said, saying this agreement is a positive step in that process.
Chancellor John Wiley also chimed in, assuring the regents that UW-Madison is concerned about the issue of sweatshop labor, and the agreement with Adidas is among the best universities have with apparel companies. Still, Wiley stood by the university's decision, saying full disclosure, at this time, would not be realistic.
""This is as good as it gets,"" Wiley said.
The regents also welcomed state Rep. David Ward, R-Fort Atkinson, to the meeting to get some legislative perspective on the state's 2005-'07 budget.
Ward said this budget would be one of the state's most difficult, as the state is facing an approximate deficit of $1.6 billion, but that tuition is still a priority among legislators.
""I think as legislators, we look at tuition as number one,"" he said. ""We do not want to price students out of their education.""
Ward said he hopes the budget will be decided by June 30.
