Student protesters delivered UF President Bernie Machen a big, red Valentine's Day card Thursday morning, but the message inside was less than loving.
Members of three groups - Students for a Democratic Society, United Students Against Sweatshops and Feminist Activists Creating Equality - wrote Machen about concerns that UF apparel could be made with sweatshop labor, according to a copy of the letter.
The groups wrote that UF should join the Workers Right Consortium, a group that oversees its members' manufactured clothing to ensure it's not produced in sweatshops.
Machen was in Tallahassee when protesters delivered the roughly 2-foot-wide cardboard heart, and his secretary accepted it for him, said Kevin Hachey, one of the protesters.
Dedee DeLongpre, director of UF's Office of Sustainability, said UF is already a member of the Fair Labor Association, a similar sweatshop-monitoring group. DeLongpre said UF seems comfortable with its current affiliation but that the students had valid concerns.
Hachey said the student groups didn't support the Fair Labor Association because some of its board members belong to the textile industry, and "we can't expect them to police themselves."
In their letter, protesters gave Machen a March 19 deadline to affiliate with their approved group. And if he doesn't respond?
"That's for us to know and Bernie to find out," Hachey said.
