Kim Pearson

© 2003-4. All Rights Reserved

Vogt 12/1 Prof. Writing Memo

Date: December 1, 2000

To: Jesse Rosenblum

From: Erin Vogt

Subject: Junior Golf Program Recommendation

The College of New Jersey is considering hosting the first annual one-week golf program in conjunction with the Junior Golf Program of Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer. Nike will provide corporate sponsorship for the program, and Tiger Woods will make a brief appearance. Upon the consideration of such an event, the two prevalent issues that arise are:

1) The circumstances’ alignment or discordance with the school’ mission

2) Nike’s genuine motivations and efforts in the situation of sweat shops

The Trenton Junior Golf program is an indisputably positive movement that would boost the college’s connections and relations with the surrounding community and also foster its ideas of helping inner-city youth to prepare to succeed in higher education, as through TCNJ’s "Collegebound" program. Instead, the real conflicts arise between the school’s stated mission, and the actions of Nike and Tiger Woods.

Within The College of New Jersey Action Statement are the following ideas:

"Broadening the perspectives of the college community…promoting increased study of and participation in, the global community", and "Attracting and retaining a diverse population of students, faculty, and staff." The school’s core beliefs focus on such ideals, and among its strive for an open, caring, supportive environment:

- Prepares its students to be successful, ethical, and visionary leaders

2. An educated individual possesses an understanding of his or her own culture, an appreciation of other cultures, and the capacity to facilitate cross-culture interaction.
2. Regards education in the service of human welfare as its chief end.

Keeping the school’s morals in mind in the face of such tremendous temptation as the appearance of Tiger Woods and the Nike Corporation on campus, one must think of the company’s questionable actions in its past concerning human rights and workers’ welfare.

Nike has definitely worked to shed its image of sweatshops and unfair labor practices, but the question remains whether these actions are sincere. It joined The Apparel Industry Partnership (AIP) in August 1996, a coalition aimed at eradicating sweatshops in the apparel and footwear industries. On its own, it will focus on the efforts it has made with the black youth of America, and its introduction of a small loan program in some areas of its Pacific factories to encourage enterprise and small businesses. Yet as recently as November, when Thailand workers approached Woods to support their fight for unionized labor, Nike has been exposed to be not as generous as it claims to be with its workforce. Organizations such as Global Exchange have conducted interviews with workers in Nike plants who are unable to make a decent living on their minimal wages.

Woods has a $100-million, five-year endorsement deal with Nike. On a recent trip to his mother’s home country of Thailand, he refused to talk with protesters who showed up at an event. The group was demonstrating on behalf of the 70,000 workers producing Nike footwear and clothing in Thailand in subcontracted factories. Their letter to Woods included, "We appeal to you to use your influence as a respected athlete and as a beneficiary of Nike's success to push for better working conditions." The letter also said workers often are not issued proper safety equipment and are injured on the job. It also estimated that Nike spends the equivalent of 14,000 workers' daily wage to pay Woods for one day.

Nike is not Woods’ only profitable endorsement. The company that performed laser surgery to correct his vision is paying Woods $2 million a year simply to use his name, and he has far more lucrative deals with Buick, American Express, EA Sports, Rolex and Wheaties, while also being sponsored by TLC, Golf Digest, Warner Brooks, CBS Sportsline and Asahi Beer. The Tiger Woods Foundation suddenly seems full of hypocrisy, as it claims to promote a world in which "people of varying backgrounds, histories, races, languages and ethnicities all can reach their highest potential."

On campus, the anti-sweat shop group would be Amnesty International, with approximately 30 official members. However, in such a situation as the golf tournament, there is the possibility of Amnesty’s involvement with United Students Against Sweatshops, a coalition of campus groups that has already stood up in protests against Nike. Last spring, students held demonstrations at Harvard, Yale, Princeton and dozens of other colleges and universities, resulting in a victory for students in the release of a list of sites for Nike’s production plants.

Nike recently ended its contract to provide hockey equipment to Brown University, citing Brown's decision to join the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC). Advocacy organizations, including Campaign for Labor Rights and Press for Change supported student activists in denouncing the Nike action as an attempt to intimidate other campuses from following the Brown example.

The college, upon reviewing the facts that are involved, might hold strong reservation in agreeing to host this event, after realizing that such association would go against the very fabric of its credo. I suggest extensive research into the dealings of Nike before agreeing to enter a relationship with the corporation that might jeopardize the school’s ethical beliefs.