Nike sucks

Well, duh. But anyway, looks like the U of M athletics dept is in the process of signing an exclusive contract to have all university branded apparel produced by the Nike corp. So what? Big business is always doing this type of thing, & it's just a fact of our modern economic system, right?

A recent editorial in the Minnesota Daily suggests that it behooves the University to reconsider (and ultimately not approve) the pending contract. Key to the argument are Nike's use of sweatshop labor and former president Mark Yudof's 2000 statement that "The University of Minnesota must unequivocally insist upon safe, decent working conditions for those who manufacture University-licensed apparel."

There is also an economic argument here: keep jobs in the U.S.

I'd like to suggest an ecological argument as well. Shipping things from third world countries requires the avoidable burning of fossil fuels.

Think about signing this online petition if you feel the same way.