USC adopts licensee evaluation
The Corporate Social Responsibility supplement requires companies to evaluate its factories and ‘pass’ USC standards.
By LESLIE STRAUSS
Contributing Writer
In an effort to guarantee human rights for factory workers, USC will be the first and only university to require all of its merchandise licensees to fill out a Corporate Social Responsibility supplement. As of June, every licensee must pass the subjective CSR evaluation in order to carry the USC logo.
In 2005, USC was the first uni-
versity to address Corporate Social Responsibility in its licensing application for companies wishing to use USC logos on their products.
Corporate Social Responsibility, in this case, refers to a company’s duty to benefit its customers, environment, employees, as well as itself.
USC’s Trademark and Licensing Department made this addition, in the form of a supplement to the licensing application, because of growing con-
cern that university-branded apparel is being manufactured under sweatshop conditions, violating human rights.
By adding this supplement to the application, USC said the companies it licenses should be responsible for their products, even before USC puts its name on them, said Liz Kennedy, director of Trademark and Licensing.
Acknowledging the importance of CSR is said to be a huge step in the fight against human rights violations and sweatshops, but labor rights activists say there is still much more to be done.
“This is a good start, but there is nothing here about implementation,” said Teresa Cheng, a member of the Student Coalition Against Labor Exploitation and a sophomore majoring in political science.
The supplement is titled “Corporate Responsibility & Supply Chain Compliance Questions for USC Licensees.” The questions in the supplement require USC licensees to know where their products are coming from and the conditions under which they are being produced. USC asks the licensees to list the factories
I	see CSR, page It I
Senate urges for campus ad texts
The cell-phone promotions would give $1 to USG for every student that registers
for the service.
Letter campaign highlights all-Greek philanthropy *™E¥vaN00T
October 11,2006
Vol. CLIX, No. 36
Donations raised go to St. Jude’s Research Hospital for patients’ medical expenses.
By CATHERINE LYONS
Staff Writer
All five councils of the Greek community united yesterday evening to raise money for St. Jude’s Research Hospital through the annual St Jude’s Up 'Til Dawn campaign held at Alpha Chi Omega sorority.
The Up ’Til Dawn event is a letter-writing campaign and one of the core collegiate fundraisers for St Jude’s, said Fabiola Alarcon, St. Jude’s representative for USC and the Pacific Coast fundraising office.
More than 100 colleges nationwide participate in the campaign, which started five years ago.
USC’s Interfratemity and Panhellenic councils hosted the fundraiser in 2004, sending out 1,500 letters and raising more than $7,000, said Alarcon and Kristin Salaya, PHC vice president of community and public relations and executive director of Up ’Til Dawn.
"We’re trying to get the word out on campus,” Alarcon said. “It is an awesome fundraising opportunity, but it is also an awareness campaign for St Jude’s.”
More than 350 students were antici-I see Dawn, page 111
Joseph Zuniga l Daily irojan
Raising money. Greek students write letters at Alpha Chi Omega sorority asking for donations to the Up .'Til Dawn fundraiser Tuesday. Proceeds from the event go to St. Jude’s Research Hospital.
Undergraduate Student Government gave promotional text messaging company Mobile Campus its stamp of approval at Tuesday night’s meeting.
With little fanfare and almost no discussion, senators unanimously M AfP passed a resolu-	™
tion supporting PflVPrAPP and urging USC UVI5loo5 to partner with Mobile Campus Residential to “irhprove stu- Senator Brian dent life on cam- Wu resigned pus.”	at Tuesday’s
Mobile Undergraduate Campus is a free, Student opt-in, permis- Government sion-based text meeting. 3 messaging service for students,
professors and university organizations.
Students can voluntarily sign up to receive up to two text coupons per day and join text mailing lists started by different on-campus organizations.
Clayton Stewart, Mobile Campus university market manager, gave an informal presentation about Mobile Campus at the Oct. 3 USG meeting and asked senators to put the student government logo on his product and back the service I see Mobile, page 3 I
IUII) TII0.H
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INDEX
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Students debate the controversial “UCL Gay” shirts. 7
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Tomorrow: Partly chudy High 7% lax' 6.i.
Safety procedures a problem for students
Director of fire safety said only a small amount of students are familiar with USC’s strategy on handling catastrophes.
By HELEN MOSER
Contributing Writer
Despite their vulnerability to earthquakes, hurricanes and other disasters, most USC students are unaware of the emergency procedures needed to handle such catastrophes, said William Regensburger, director of fire safety and emergency planning for USC.
Regensburger said only a very small amount of students are familiar with the safety information found in SCampus and “Be Prepared,” a publication produced by USC’s Department of Career and Protective Services, which details disaster preparation and response tactics.
“Many students say they are too
busy to think about it or have the belief that it will never happen to them,” Regensburger said. He said that while his department has attempted to drum up student interest in emergency preparedness by offering seminars in the residence halls, hosting educational events and selling emergency kits, he has found little interest from the students.
*"I will challenge the students to show some interest,” he said. “I think it’s a major problem.”
Kristen Swanson, a freshman majoring in business administration from Verona, Va., said that as an out-of-state student, she is very unfamiliar with earthquake safety.
“I would have no idea what to do in an earthquake,” she said. “I wish
they would have practice drills or go over the procedures, especially for us out-of-state students.”
Jonathan Kershaw, a junior majoring in computer science who lives in Cardinal Gardens, said a recent fire drill at his residence was not taken seriously.
“No one knew it was the fire drill, so no one responded,” he said. "I think fires are a big issue. You’re not supposed to smoke within 25 feet of a building, but people still do.”
Instead of focusing directly on the students, Regensburger said his department’s concentration is on employees and other people who are available to attend training, including resident advisers and residential coordinators who staff USC’s residence halls.
The RAs and RCs attend a training program that prepares them to assist the 8,000 students who live on
campus, with situations for emergencies such as fires and earthquakes. In addition, the RAs and RCs are taught emergency first aid and are given emergency supplies.
Regensburger said USC’s emergency preparedness has greatly increased in quality recently, which he credits to the support of the university in providing resources to purchase materials and train faculty and staff members.
"We are one of the best (universities in respect to emergency preparedness) in the nation,” he said. “Over the last couple years, we’ve really gotten things together."
Following Hurricane Katrina last August, Regensburger said his department evaluated its ability to successfully respond to emergencies.
“(Hurricane Katrina) made us aware that you have to have a really strong plan and prepare to be self-I see Emergency, page 2 I