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Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | VOL. 162, NO. 15 | www.dailytrojan.com
TUESDAY, SEPTE MBER 18, 2007
USC loses
88 vendors
over labor
By TAREN FUJIM OTO
Daily Trojan
Eighty-eight of the nearly 250 vendors supply-ing
the university with USC-licensed products have
decided not to renew their annual contracts in the
wake of new guidelines mandating better working
conditions in their factories.
The stricter auditing process for USC vendors,
announced in a memorandum Sept. 11, requires ven-dors
to provide information about their company’s
corporate social responsibility programs. The move
is aimed at ensuring employees work in humane
and economically stable conditions, according to the
memorandum.
All companies that USC contracts with must en-force
a corporate social responsibility program that
adheres to the USC Workplace Code of Conduct,
which can be found on the department’s website,
said Elizabeth Kennedy, USC director of Trade-marks
and Licensing.
Each USC licensee is required to submit to an an-nual
third-party audit to monitor compliance with
the code, Kennedy said. Though the vendors are not
allowed to choose the auditor or auditing company,
Kennedy said a lot of vendors try to evade the pro-cess.
None of the 88 vendors who chose not to renew
USC says it enforces code to promote fair
labor, but SCALE says it isn’t enough.
| see code, page 6 |
Photo Courtesy of Alexis Hawkins, SCALE
Awards anger | Members of Student Coalition Against Labor Exploitation protest actor Kevin Bacon’s spokesperson
contract with Hanes, which they say owns sweatshops, outside the 59th annual Emmy Awards Sunday afternoon.
By STEPHANIE HARNET
Daily Trojan
Water. It’s the essential ingredient
for lush lawns and lavish gardens.
But because of the arid environment
of Southern California, USC is seek-ing
to strike a balance between sus-tainability
and stunning greens.
USC will install a new, water-saving
irrigation system next week
at a test site on the Health Sciences
Campus to improve environmental
sustainability on campus.
Emily Lewis, a senior majoring in
communication, is a representative
for Sustainable Engineering Solu-tions,
the company that will install
the system.
Lewis said the new system uses
80 percent less water than traditional
watering systems, saving water with-out
harming the look of the lawns.
The switch comes months after
USC received poor marks in an as-sessment
by the Sustainable Endow-ment
Institute. The institute graded
100 U.S. and Canadian universities;
USC ranked among the bottom 12
with a D grade.
Max Slavkin, Undergraduate Stu-dent
Government vice president,
is spearheading the effort to make
USC more sustainable. He is cur-rently
putting together a compre-hensive
report to the administration
regarding practices at USC. He said
taking initiative on new environmen-tal
practices should be a priority.
“It just takes the willpower to
make the change and to just do
something new that hasn’t been
done before when there isn’t some-one
putting a gun to your head,” he
said.
The new irrigation system uses
technology developed 12 years ago
in Australia. Lewis said the system
uses an underground geotextile fiber
to carry water directly to plant roots.
Using capillary action, water is pulled
through the fiber at the same rate it
is used by plants, eliminating excess
watering and runoff.
Lewis said the test site, a hillside
lawn at the periphery of HSC, cur-rently
uses 21,600 gallons of water
each week for irrigation.
Jorge de los Reyes, the preventa-tive
maintenance supervisor at HSC,
will oversee the installation. He said
the site was chosen for its hillside lo-cation
and largely clay soil composi-tion.
Lewis, who suggested the site,
agreed.
“It’s such a steep incline that the
water just runs down the hill,” she
said.
Installation will begin at the site
on Sept. 24, and will be a three-day
process involving lifting the turf that
currently grows there, installing the
underground system and returning
the turf. Lewis said Sustainable En-gineering
Solutions is donating the
materials for the system and teaching
USC employees how to install it.
The site will be monitored over
the next few months. Reyes said that
if results are satisfactory, USC would
Officials say water-saving irrigation pilot system promotes
environmental sustainability while saving costs.
HSC hopes grass will be greener with new system
Red carpet welcome | Students protest at the Emmys
| see water, page 2 |
»
16
DOUBLE DUTY
Running back C.J. Gable will
return kicks against Washington
State as corner Vincent Joseph
recovers from a bruised larynx
HIDEN TREASURES
USC offers a number of fascinating
unexplored locales for students
looking to find an on-campus
adventure 7
»
OPINION | A few
small recycling steps
can make a world of
a difference, writes
Amy Baack.
PAGE 4
LIFESTYLE |
Former Nixon
adviser John Dean
excoriates the Bush
administration for
undermining the
Republican
Party and the
government as a
whole in his new
book, Broken
Government.
PAGE 11
NEWS | Congress’
new bill aims to help
students pay for
rising cost of college.
PAGE 2
U The new system is expected to
reduce more than 21,000 gallons of
water a week used for irrigation at
the test site by 80 percent.
F
A
C
T
S
Q U I C K
U The new system costs 48 cents
per square foot, compared to 36
cents per square foot for replacing
conventional sprinklers.
Object Description
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Full text | Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | VOL. 162, NO. 15 | www.dailytrojan.com TUESDAY, SEPTE MBER 18, 2007 USC loses 88 vendors over labor By TAREN FUJIM OTO Daily Trojan Eighty-eight of the nearly 250 vendors supply-ing the university with USC-licensed products have decided not to renew their annual contracts in the wake of new guidelines mandating better working conditions in their factories. The stricter auditing process for USC vendors, announced in a memorandum Sept. 11, requires ven-dors to provide information about their company’s corporate social responsibility programs. The move is aimed at ensuring employees work in humane and economically stable conditions, according to the memorandum. All companies that USC contracts with must en-force a corporate social responsibility program that adheres to the USC Workplace Code of Conduct, which can be found on the department’s website, said Elizabeth Kennedy, USC director of Trade-marks and Licensing. Each USC licensee is required to submit to an an-nual third-party audit to monitor compliance with the code, Kennedy said. Though the vendors are not allowed to choose the auditor or auditing company, Kennedy said a lot of vendors try to evade the pro-cess. None of the 88 vendors who chose not to renew USC says it enforces code to promote fair labor, but SCALE says it isn’t enough. | see code, page 6 | Photo Courtesy of Alexis Hawkins, SCALE Awards anger | Members of Student Coalition Against Labor Exploitation protest actor Kevin Bacon’s spokesperson contract with Hanes, which they say owns sweatshops, outside the 59th annual Emmy Awards Sunday afternoon. By STEPHANIE HARNET Daily Trojan Water. It’s the essential ingredient for lush lawns and lavish gardens. But because of the arid environment of Southern California, USC is seek-ing to strike a balance between sus-tainability and stunning greens. USC will install a new, water-saving irrigation system next week at a test site on the Health Sciences Campus to improve environmental sustainability on campus. Emily Lewis, a senior majoring in communication, is a representative for Sustainable Engineering Solu-tions, the company that will install the system. Lewis said the new system uses 80 percent less water than traditional watering systems, saving water with-out harming the look of the lawns. The switch comes months after USC received poor marks in an as-sessment by the Sustainable Endow-ment Institute. The institute graded 100 U.S. and Canadian universities; USC ranked among the bottom 12 with a D grade. Max Slavkin, Undergraduate Stu-dent Government vice president, is spearheading the effort to make USC more sustainable. He is cur-rently putting together a compre-hensive report to the administration regarding practices at USC. He said taking initiative on new environmen-tal practices should be a priority. “It just takes the willpower to make the change and to just do something new that hasn’t been done before when there isn’t some-one putting a gun to your head,” he said. The new irrigation system uses technology developed 12 years ago in Australia. Lewis said the system uses an underground geotextile fiber to carry water directly to plant roots. Using capillary action, water is pulled through the fiber at the same rate it is used by plants, eliminating excess watering and runoff. Lewis said the test site, a hillside lawn at the periphery of HSC, cur-rently uses 21,600 gallons of water each week for irrigation. Jorge de los Reyes, the preventa-tive maintenance supervisor at HSC, will oversee the installation. He said the site was chosen for its hillside lo-cation and largely clay soil composi-tion. Lewis, who suggested the site, agreed. “It’s such a steep incline that the water just runs down the hill,” she said. Installation will begin at the site on Sept. 24, and will be a three-day process involving lifting the turf that currently grows there, installing the underground system and returning the turf. Lewis said Sustainable En-gineering Solutions is donating the materials for the system and teaching USC employees how to install it. The site will be monitored over the next few months. Reyes said that if results are satisfactory, USC would Officials say water-saving irrigation pilot system promotes environmental sustainability while saving costs. HSC hopes grass will be greener with new system Red carpet welcome | Students protest at the Emmys | see water, page 2 | » 16 DOUBLE DUTY Running back C.J. Gable will return kicks against Washington State as corner Vincent Joseph recovers from a bruised larynx HIDEN TREASURES USC offers a number of fascinating unexplored locales for students looking to find an on-campus adventure 7 » OPINION | A few small recycling steps can make a world of a difference, writes Amy Baack. PAGE 4 LIFESTYLE | Former Nixon adviser John Dean excoriates the Bush administration for undermining the Republican Party and the government as a whole in his new book, Broken Government. PAGE 11 NEWS | Congress’ new bill aims to help students pay for rising cost of college. PAGE 2 U The new system is expected to reduce more than 21,000 gallons of water a week used for irrigation at the test site by 80 percent. F A C T S Q U I C K U The new system costs 48 cents per square foot, compared to 36 cents per square foot for replacing conventional sprinklers. |
