Kurt Spiridakis, a Penn sophomore, agreed. There's a direct relation to us and the way sweatshop workers are treated. That's not all. In addition, schools such as Penn now routinely emphasize community service in their curriculum. And the sweatshop issue serves as a crossroads for students with interest in a wide array of concerns.
Most sweatshop workers are women, attracting women's-rights advocates.
Melissa Byrne, a junior at St. Joseph's University, said the Roman Catholic Church's teaching on economic and social justice resonates in this issue. Student environmentalists say companies that run sweatshops are often the worst polluters in Third World nations. Thanks to technology, the activism also feeds on itself. When the Penn protest began last week, sympathizers at Yale University held a rally. Yale student Amanda Bell said students there had asked Yale's president to contact Rodin in support of the Penn students.