Statement from Penn State president regarding Penn State's participation in new program
Penn State is pleased to announce its enthusiastic participation in the recently created program initiated by Knights Apparel and announced in concert with the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC).
Knights is one of the leading collegiate apparel manufacturers in the country and a significant supplier of Penn State apparel. This program is a unique and special opportunity that combines good business practices with humanitarian outreach. The program, preliminarily labeled “Above & Beyond” by Knights Apparel, will serve to improve the lives of workers who manufacture collegiate apparel through offering higher standards in working conditions under which collegiate products are produced. The new approach features enhanced wages and benefits.
Penn State is committed to working with management of the Penn State Bookstore and other retailers to promote the availability of these products to consumers. We also are encouraging Barnes & Noble’s corporate-level support throughout its collegiate retail landscape. We hope to see these products in the marketplace as early as fall 2009 to meet the back-to-school demand.
We have great confidence that Knights Apparel is an ideal partner to launch this program, and we are particularly pleased by the support the program has received from the WRC. Knights is a longstanding manufacturer of Penn State apparel. Joseph Bozich, CEO of Knights Apparel, was a participant in last year’s Corporate Social Responsibility Forum hosted by Penn State and has repeatedly proven his commitment to improving labor rights industry-wide. He has been in regular discussions with us as his efforts have evolved, and we are grateful to have had an opportunity to encourage this development.
I want to commend those in the University community who have promoted the evolution of such efforts and encourage support of this program from all Penn State stakeholders, since I believe it is an excellent model for how collectively we can enhance the lives of apparel workers around the world who produce goods that carry the Penn State name. We also will advocate for other colleges and universities to endorse and participate in this initiative, and we look forward to continuing a dialog toward the purposes served by such efforts.
Graham Spanier
January 21, 2009