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Reno delays WRC decision SOU �Sweatshop Patrol� wants decision sooner By SARA MURPHY ASHLAND � There�s a group of students at Southern Oregon University who aren�t happy campers. SOU President Stephen Reno on Wednesday delayed making a decision on whether the university will join the Workers Rights Consortium, a student-oriented watchdog group that monitors labor conditions in foreign clothing factories. He committed the university to making a final decision by Oct. 30. That�s bad news for about 20 students who have camped out on the Churchill Hall lawn since Sunday night. The group, dubbed the "Sweatshop Patrol," has demanded Reno make a decision before he leaves this month to take a position as chancellor of the University System of New Hampshire. "We have all felt very disappointed in the administration�s decision to put the issue off until the fall," said Kerul Dyer, a student activist who continued to camp with others outside Churchill late Wednesday. Dyer said the student group will decide by Thursday whether to take action to try to force a decision by Reno. In a prepared statement, Reno asked students to have patience in the decision-making process. "To those who might express frustration, cynicism, or even anger at my action, I restate the commitment of this university to make a final decision by a date certain and to involve fully students and other members of this campus in the process," Reno said. "An apparent delay of four months will not be a true delay, nor will it mitigate the effect of our final action, if it yields a decision that has been taken by a democratic process and enjoys the even stronger support of the campus community for that fact." Student protesters expected Reno to make a decision this week. In an informal meeting Monday morning, he said he would be prepared to make a decision the next day. However, the Faculty Senate and Regional Advisory Board each met Monday night and asked Reno to delay making a final decision until fall. Though both groups expressed support for the students� concern for social justice, each body decided its members needed more time to research WRC and its rival, the Fair Labor Association. The Student Senate, Bookstore Advisory Committee and local chapter of the Oregon Public Employees Union have recommended SOU join the WRC. Joining the group would help SOU ensure that clothes bearing university emblems are not made with sweatshop labor. Though newly formed, WRC has 51 college members, including the University of Oregon. In his three-and-a-half-page statement, Reno said he believes SOU should join both WRC and FLA. Personal opinions aside, he said the university must reach a decision by a process that allows the entire campus community a chance to participate. "Concern for social justice is incumbent upon us all, and we in the university have a particular responsibility to teach through our deeds as well as our words, but to do so in a way that allows free, honest, and civil exchange of ideas," he said. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA