Labor Licensing Policy Committee December Meeting

We had our LLPC meeting today. We got an update from the UW Bookstore guys about the new fair trade line they've been carrying. It has been very successful. They have sold more in a month than they require a line to sell in a year in order to keep purchasing it. They are still trying to diversify their fair trade clothes with other brands such as Fair Indigo, but as of right now they only have the one brand. Next we got an update on the situation at the New Era Cap Company distribution center in Mobile, Alabama. They still aren't letting the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) conduct their investigation, which violates our contract with them, so the administration has decided that if the WRC isn't granted access to the factory by Wednesday 12/19, we will send a breach of contract letter to New Era. The committee unanimously supported this as well as publicizing our termination of the contract if it comes down to that. Next we talked about the Hermosa situation. Nothing has really changed for the workers in a long time, and we are getting different stories from Gregg Nebel (adidas bigshot) and Scott Nova (executive director of the WRC), but the committee decided that it is not our job to investigate these matters, that is what he pay the WRC to do, so we should trust what they say and the recommendations they make, and the burden of proof is on adidas. We decided that it would be beneficial to invite both Gregg Nebel and Scott Nova to our next meeting (January 25), to clear some things up, so if anyone wants to come show support, it would be appreciated. I don't know for sure if they will be able to make it or what time the meeting would be, but I'll keep everyone updated. We thought that the end of January would be a good time for them to come because there are several things that will hopefully be resolved or have progress by then. The Fair Labor Association (FLA) hired an ombudsman to oversee hiring practices at nearby factories, and that is supposed to be taking place in January. Also (this is unrelated to the specific case), I think we should hopefully be getting the Department of Justice letter about the Designated Suppliers Program (DSP) back around the end of January, so it would be nice to have them here around that time. The DSP would lead to systemic change and worker empowerment, so it's really exciting, and hopefully it will be able to be implemented soon after we get the DoJ letter back, if it is favorable. The codes of conduct are also being looked at by a committee of universities and the CLC. This should take about 6 months, I think, and suggestions will be brought to us. I think that's about it. If anyone has any questions, let me know.

Information Technology Committee: Students and the RIAA

One of the issues that we’re constantly discussing on the Information Technology Committee is the attack on students by the Recording Industry Association of America, or RIAA. The RIAA employs a small army to search the large public file sharing networks to find people sharing music which the RIAA claims a copyright. For many years, the RIAA would send a “Cease and Desist” letter to the people it believed to be violating their copyright, or if it could not identify the person directly it would send the letter to the ISP that person used to connect to the Internet, such as Charter, TDS, or for many students, the UW. A new twist emerged this past spring, with the deliberate targeting of file sharers on college campuses and a significant upping of the ante. The Cease and Desist letters became “Pre-settlement notices,” threatening the student with a lawsuit unless they accepted an offer to settle before the lawsuit was filed. For most people, this offer was between $3000 and $4000 dollars. These “Pre-settlement notices” have, as far as anyone can tell, only gone to people using college networks, and have completely ignored people on commercial networks, such as home cable modem or DSL users. The RIAA has had a pattern of sending notices to about 20 universities a month, to about 500 students in each batch. 16 UW-Madison students received letters in March of 2007, and another 28 in September. No UW student was included in the October, November, or December batch. The UW believes most students who receive the letters settle, rather than go through the time and expense of a court battle.

As students at a research institution, we are acutely aware of the need for respect of the intellectual and artistic creations of others. We want to have a larger conversation about copyrights. It is especially important now to all students. A generation ago, the best a senior thesis could hope for was actually getting on a library shelf, and not just in the bottom of a pile in a professor’s office. Now our creations have the ability to be made available and locatable to the entire world with ease. The RIAA’s insistence on discussing copyright only as “stealing music” has made an education campaign about copyright more difficult, and drowns out many of the other important topics we need to discuss. We are going to have that conversation, and we’re going to do it on our terms, not the RIAA’s.

Our main goal right now is increase student awareness about the RIAA’s targeting of students. The message is going to be kept simple:

The RIAA is out to get you, if you’re not sure if you’ve placed yourself at risk, here’s who can answer your questions.

That’s it. We’ll have a larger conversation about copyrights later. We want students to understand the risk they’re placing themselves under, and let them make their own decisions. We are convinced that some of the people who have received pre-settlement notices had no idea they were doing anything that could get them involved in a lawsuit.

On Friday, December 14^th at 9AM we’ll be meeting in room 3207 of Computer Sciences to hash out the exact wording of the message. The meeting will be majority students, along with a few members of DoIT staff and maybe a representative from the Dean of Students office. We hope that we can craft an effective message for students. ResNet users will all see the message when they return from winter break, possibly along with the wider campus. We do not expect our message will magically convince all students to stop infringing on copyrighted music, but we hope that we get to a point where no student is surprised if they get a pre-settlement notice.

Ron Kraemer, the Vice Provost for Information Technology and Campus Chief Information Officer, and his staff have put together a good page about the RIAA response on campus here. You may also be interested in this article from the Badger Herald about a student who settled with the RIAA.

If you have suggestions for the message, please comment, or come to our Friday morning meeting. (Yes, it’s early, and the last day of classes, but we’re trying to get this done before break)

Campus Transportation Committee Report

At the Campus Transportation Committee meeting last Friday, we mostly discussed the problem of snow removal. I had encouraged people to email me their concerns about the snow, accessibility concerns on sidewalks and with getting on and off buses, and I passed these letters on in advance to the Chairs of both the Bike/Ped Committee and the Campus Transportation Committee. We also talked about concerns brought up at previous meetings regarding Transportation Services over-selling permits in ramps, particularly in Grainger. Michael (my fellow student on the committee) talked about the possibility of doing a study on the efficiency of bus routes 80 and 85 on campus. Michael and I also have concerns with Transportation Services converting Wisconsin Department of Transportation handicapped parking spots to UW Handicapped parking spots where people have to apply and pay for a regular parking spot on campus. This seems to go against creating a welcoming climate for everyone, and it is discriminatory against students because students cannot generally apply for parking on Campus.

Following is a letter I sent this weekend. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know. Thanks, Jo.

Date: Sat, 08 Dec 2007 10:46:26 -0600
To: Robert Meyer <rrm@cs.wisc.edu>, Don Waller <dmwaller@wisc.edu>, "LUNSWAY, Lance" <LLUNSWAY@fpm.wisc.edu>
From: "J. Matzner" <matzner@cae.wisc.edu>
Subject: Regarding Statement on Campus Snow Clearance Efforts
Cc: "INGHAM, STEVEN C" <SCINGHAM@FACSTAFF.WISC.EDU>, "PUDLOSKI, STEPHEN T" <PUDLOSKI@ENGR.WISC.EDU>

Dear Bob, Don, and Lance,

I don't know if you had the opportunity to read the press release on the Wisc.edu homepage that is titled, "Statement on campus snow clearance efforts" that was released yesterday. Here is the link in case you have not seen it. http://www.news.wisc.edu/14544

The article is most disappointing. It is filled with excuses as to why they did not do their job.
As Steve Pudloski said in the Campus Transportation meeting yesterday, the Public Works Commissioner in Milwaukee apologized to their citizens, http://www.jsonline.com/watch/?watch=1&date=12/4/2007&id=32630. Steve also said that the person in charge of streets for Madison apologized as well. Steve spoke to the poor choices made by the people in charge, as he is an engineer with training in this area.

Mr. Harrod does not apologize in his press release. Not once does Mr. Harrod even say that they've learned from this experience or how they will be sure this does not happen again. As many of us felt at the Campus Transportation Committee meeting yesterday, the entire campus has struggled with budget cuts, and budget cuts, along with the other excuses stated in Harrod's press release is not and should not be a plan to keep us safe.

Maybe John Harrod, director of Physical Plant, could be invited to our next Campus Transportation Meeting and we could talk to him before we make recommendations for improvements. We could also invite the Bike/Ped Committee because this committee also has expressed major concerns and should be involved (I know Lance had concerns of overlap between the two committees). Don Waller and I believe that an ombudsman/ombudswoman (or even a couple, as Lance pointed out this is an overwhelming job for one person) is greatly needed on this vast and decentralized campus and could possibly be part of the solution.

Transportation Services encourages everyone on campus to take the bus. Even in our discussions regarding issues for handicapped parking spots, etc, Transportation Services has maintained that handicapped people must pay to park or take the bus just like everyone else. In this current system, though, where people were trudging through and falling numerous times to persevere to their destination, this was not even an option for folks with mobility concerns. It seems that if Transportation Services designs it's solution for campus congestion around bus transportation, then Transportation Services must ensure a better response for all the University community that depends on the bus system. That includes better coordination with all of it's partners, contractors and Madison Metro included.

If this is not possible, then maybe the University will need to close more often in order to handle the snow and give the snow removal crews time to make the campus safe. It is my understanding that the University does not like to close because it must pay everyone for a full day of work, greatly adding to the expense. This may not be the case though. I think this is an option that we did not consider in our meeting yesterday that should have been brought up as a possible option. Since the Chancellor is responsible for determining if, for the safety and welfare of students and staff, classes will be postponed or some services suspended due to inclement weather, I think Chancellor Wiley should also be invited to our next meeting along with Mr. Harrod so we can get a better understanding of the overall picture.

All of what I have discussed above is a very complicated issue, and clearly, the current status quo is unacceptable. I believe this is a situation where the Campus Transportation Committee and the Bike/Ped Committee should intervene and assist other units in coordinating a proper response. We have the Shared Governance authority to oversee this and our effort would be invaluable to campus.

Sincerely,
Jo

Capital Neighborhoods October Meeting

Proposed Light Bulb Ordinance

• This would require all light bulbs to be energy efficient


• Concern that it would cause problems in historis buildings with vintage lighting fixtures


• Decided that those interested shoudl contact their alderperson

CNI will be taking part in the Downtown Plan come April. They want to become a part of it, not just react to it.

Parking Sub-Committee

• They are studying UW's approach to parking


• UW is currently swithching over to more of an "I-Pass" system that Illinios uses. It will conserve over 10,000 gals of gas per year in idling time. They are also switching in flourescent lighting.


• The committee is looking to take UW's approach nd apply it to the city in order to have friendly, multi-use, underground parking ramps.


• Any suggestions or interest in getting involved can be sent to Eugene Devitt at eugenedevitt@msn.com

MEETING WITH THE MAYOR DEC. 18th

• Please e-mail Jess Pavlic (jpavlic@wisc.edu) with any suggestions for relevant topics to be brought up at this meeting.

State/Langdon Report

• Hillel, which is scheduled to renovate next year, ran into difficulties with University Hotel. Hillel will be bringing their concerns to the Plan Commission at their next meeting to resolve the space issue.