Sit-in results in student arrests
Eleven Stanford students were arrested Tuesday afternoon for trespassing, after staging a five-hour sit-in in the office of Stanford President John Hennessy and its adjacent lobby.
The protest began at about 11:30 a.m., when the students occupied Hennessy's office to draw attention to the working conditions of laborers abroad who make Stanford-licensed products, such as sweatshirts, caps and other goods bearing the Stanford emblem. After about 15 minutes, the students were asked to leave the office, and they quickly and peacefully did so, gathering in the lobby outside the president's office.
Shortly before 4:30 p.m., university officials told the students that they would be subject to arrest if they did not leave the premises. When none of them did so, the Stanford police arrested them and cited them with trespassing, a misdemeanor charge. They later were released on campus.
The arrests were peaceable, and the students offered no resistance as they were led to two vans waiting outside the building.
The sit-in, which was accompanied by a protest in the Main Quad with about 60 students, came after several months of discussion between the student group, the Sweat-free Stanford Campaign, and Hennessy and other university officials about how best to ensure that workers making Stanford-licensed goods receive safe and fair treatment.
Indeed, a time and date had been scheduled for next week for Hennessy to meet with the students again.
"The university is committed to protecting the rights of workers abroad who produce the licensed goods bearing the Stanford name," said Jeff Wachtel, senior assistant to President Hennessy. "University officials have been studying this issue carefully to develop the most effective policy possible, and President Hennessy is continuing to explore new approaches to improve the plight of workers abroad."
