ASSU Senators expressed anger and frustration at their meeting last night about the arrests of 11 students — all members of the Stanford Sweat-Free Coalition — who participated in a five-hour sit-in at President John Hennessy’s office to protest what they believe is the University’s reluctance to restrict sweatshop labor in factories that produce apparel that bears the Stanford name.

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Gus Jewell

ASSU Senator Patrick Cordova ‘09 condemned the University for ordering the arrests of 11 Sweat-Free Coalition protestors and lauded the student activists for their courage of conviction.

Senator Patrick Cordova ‘09 introduced the sweat-free issue by reading a prepared statement in which he expressed both “great pride and great anger” for the protest.

“Pride is an understatement for how I feel about the 11 brave students who would not take ‘no’ for an answer, and sat in peaceful protest in Building 10,” Cordova said.

He commended the students for sacrificing their time and their classes in what he called an “extremely peaceful but powerful” protest. He then condemned the University for its “despicable” response.

“I call for the immediate release of these peaceful protestors, as well as an apology by the president of this University as well as immediate action on reform measures that focus on moving Stanford in a sweat-free direction,” Cordova said.

He called on senators to boycott the Bookstore’s apparel sales, to attend the sweat-free vigil that took place in White Plaza after the meeting and to “give thanks to those who have been arrested, coordinated this effort or volunteered their time.”

Senator Sarah Golabek-Goldman ‘10, chair of the Campus Advocacy Committee, echoed Cordova’s concerns.

“Many students, including myself, were angered and shocked by the arrests of our peers,” Golabek-Goldman said. “In the next few days, I will be in contact with President Hennessy’s office and the leaders of the sweat-free Stanford campaign. The Advocacy Committee of the ASSU must facilitate effective communication between the administration and students so that the campaign’s specific goals can be met.”

The second half of the meeting centered around the concerns of Senator Luukas Ilves ‘09, who said he had questions about the selection of the new Elections Commission.

Ilves was concerned that the selection process violated a “separation of powers.” Specifically, he was worried by the fact that Vice President Mondaire Jones ‘09 was the Senate representative in the Elections Officer Selection Committee.

“It was not clear that there was adequate separation of powers between the executive and the legislature, and that the legislature had proper input,” Ilves said.

Elections Commissioner Bernard Fraga ‘08 said that Jones was the only outgoing senator who expressed interest in filling the position.

Ilves was also disturbed that all four members of the selection committee were affiliated with the Students of Color Coaltion (SOCC), a comment that irritated many of his colleagues.

“I’m not saying that there was any impropriety in selection,” Ilves said, “but the fact that all four members of the selection committee who selected candidates were of the same political background at least creates potential appearance of impropriety.”

He called for a more “open and transparent” selection process in the future.

An icy Fraga offered a facetious reply.

“In regards to the comment about some of the people on the selections committee having been endorsed by SOCC,” Fraga said. “I would also point out that there were only two women on the selections committee. There were more fuzzies than techies. We couldn’t represent every major equally, but the committee as a whole should try to represent the interests of the combined student body thoroughly and equally, and I think we did that.”