Georgetown has decided to indefinitely suspend its contract with Lands’ End, the clothing manufacturer that produces licensed Georgetown apparel, because of its alleged failure to comply with the university’s Code of Conduct.

Questions about Lands’ End’s compliance with the code were raised last year by an independent monitoring group that investigates worker complaints.

Georgetown licensees agree to comply with the code, which calls for fair and just business practices consistent with the university’s Jesuit tradition and mission of social responsibility. It states that Georgetown “will only do business with licensees whose workers are present at work voluntarily, not at undue risk or physical harm, fairly compensated and not exploited in any way.”

In a Jan. 22 letter to Lands’ End, Daniel Porterfield, vice president for public affairs and strategic development, cited the company’s failure to uphold the code and to “recognize and respect the right of employees to freedom of association and collective bargaining.”

Georgetown has been communicating with Lands’ End since arch 2003 when the independent monitoring group, Worker Rights Consortium, questioned the company’s practices.

Their inquiry was prompted by a worker who complained that he had been denied employment by a factory that produced Lands’ End goods. He said the factory in Primo, El Salvador, had blacklisted him and other suspected trade unionists.

In response to Georgetown’s decision, Lands’ End’s has asserted its work with another independent monitoring organization, the Fair Labor Association.

“Lands’ End is working actively with [FLA], Primo and other organizations to immediately develop and implement a corrective action plan to remedy any discrimination that may

have been experienced at the factory in El Salvador .We will work to ensure that discrimination does not occur at this factory and to ensure that all other factories that supply Lands’ End respect workers’ rights,” said Chris ordi of Lands’ End’s Corporate Communications.

Georgetown’s decision comes at a time of increased campus activity nationwide, said Emil Totonchi (SFS ’06) a member of Georgetown’s Licensing Oversight Committee. In the past two months colleges across the country have staged protests and sit-ins against Lands’ Ends’ practices at Primo.

Over 100 American universities – including Yale, Princeton and Harvard – have contracts with Lands’ End, according to United Students Against Sweatshops.

“It’s ironic that as students we wear these emblems that represent an institution we’re proud of, yet they’re made in conditions that contradict the values we try to uphold,” LOC member Megan Murphy (COL `06) said.

This isn’t the first time Georgetown has delayed renewing a licensee contract.

In Dec. 2001 the LOC suspended its agreement with New Era Cap Company, which produced Georgetown hats, when similar concerns arose over the company’s failure to comply with the Code of Conduct.

The university reinstated its contract months later, however, when it said noticeable improvements had been made.

The hope, Murphy said, is to reach a similar agreement with Lands’ End.

“The assumption is that if [they] change and better their practices, we will do business with [them],” she said.

Lands’ End’s contract is formally up for renewal Jan. 31. Until then, Totonchi said, Georgetown will maintain communication with the WRC and Lands’ End with the intent of improving conditions and alleviating worker complaints.

Meanwhile, Totonchi said that LOC has been successful in effecting positive change.

“It’s amazing that Georgetown has this organization. ost of the time it doesn’t happen this way at other universities … students, faculty and administration work[ing] together,” Totonchi said.

Only a handful of schools, including Duke University and the University of Michigan, have oversight committees.

Georgetown’s LOC formed in 1998 after a sit-in by the Solidarity Commitee at then-President Leo J. O’Donovan, S.J.’s office. The result was the LOC – a group composed of students, faculty and administrators that ensures licensee compliance with Georgetown’s Code of Conduct.