Designated Suppliers Program (DSP)
Designated Suppliers Program (DSP)
The Designated Suppliers Program (DSP) is a comprehensive program for enhancing the enforcement of university codes of conduct. The DSP has been endorsed in principle by a substantial and growing number of universities, and is under active consideration by many others.
This page contains links to several categories of documents related to the DSP. They include:
- DSP Program Description
- Information from the DSP Working Group
- Statements by universities that have made official announcements concerning the DSP
- Statements by the WRC Board
- Legal opinions from leading antitrust and labor attorneys
- Research papers prepared by the WRC on economic issues related to the DSP
- Key communications to universities from the WRC
- Statements and documents from other organizations
- Press clippings
This document lays out the elements of the DSP, including its labor standards, enforcement mechanisms, and administrative procedures.
Information from the DSP Working Group
The DSP Working Group consists of those colleges and universities that have publicly expressed support for the DSP, as well as representatives of United Students Against Sweatshops. The Working Group is staffed by the WRC. On September 29, the Working Group released a new version of the DSP, incorporating significant revisions and enhancements to the original program design. Information related to the Working Group’s efforts is listed below.
- Memo from DSP Working Group to Universities – September 29, 2006
- Summary of Modifications to the DSP - September 29, 2006 This document explains each of the revisions made to the original DSP program design by the Working Group
- List of Members of the DSP Working Group
College and University Policy Statements
Policy statements in support of the DSP
The following universities have issued official public statements in support of the Designated Suppliers Program. Please click the links below to see the text of individual statements.
- Brandeis University
- Brown University
- California State University, Fullerton
- Columbia University
- Cornell University
- DePaul University
- Duke University: Statement, Press Release
- Fordham University
- Georgetown University
- Grand Valley State University
- Hamilton College
- Indiana University
- Marquette University
- Oberlin College
- Regis University
- Santa Clara University
- Seattle University
- Skidmore College
- Smith College
- Syracuse University
- University at Albany, The State University of New York
- The University of California, Berkeley
- The University of California, Davis
- The University of California, Irvine
- The University of California, Los Angeles
- The University of California, Merced
- The University of California, Riverside
- The University of California, San Diego
- The University of California, San Francisco
- The University of California, Santa Barbara
- The University of California, Santa Cruz
- The University of Colorado at Boulder
- The University of Connecticut
- The University of Iowa
- The University of Maine - Farmington
- The University of Miami
- The University of Washington
- The University of Wisconsin - Madison
- Ursinus College
- Washington State University
- Western Washington University
Additional policy statements
The following universities have also issued official policy statements regarding the DSP. Please click the links below to see the text of individual statements.
The WRC Board has issued the following statements concerning the Designated Suppliers Program:
- Statement by WRC Board - January 20, 2006
- Supplementary Communication Concerning Board Statement – March 2, 2006
- Barenberg Opinion Concerning Domestic Labor Law – September 26, 2005
- Baker Antitrust Opinion - January 17, 2006
- Baker Opinion Concerning the Role of the Licensees - March 1, 2006
- Barenberg Opinion Concerning the DSP and ILO Principles – March 1, 2006
- Baker Opinion Concerning University Competition – March 3, 2006
- Baker Response to Saferstein Opinion – October 31, 2006
- WRC Business Review Letter Request – January 12, 2007
- In January 2008, the WRC withdrew the Business Review request out of concern that the Justice Department did not intend to grant a letter. The WRC plans to resubmit the request at a later date. For more information on the withdrawal of the letter, see the WRC’s January 22 update to universities.
Living Wage Estimates: Indonesia and El Salvador: These Living wage estimates were prepared by the WRC staff, in consultation with local organizations, for the purpose of informing affiliate colleges and universities about the implications of the living wage provision contained in the proposed Designated Suppliers Program.
Labor Cost Increases and Apparel Retail Prices: This data and analysis concerns the likely impact of substantial labor cost increases (as would result from adoption of the kind of program USAS has proposed) on apparel retail prices.
- WRC Executive Director memo to universities - October 11, 2005
- WRC Letter to the Fair Labor Association – March 4, 2006
- WRC Letter to the Fair Labor Association – August 15, 2006
- WRC update to universities - January 22, 2008
Statements/Documents from Organizations Involved in the DSP Debate
The following are documents issued by United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), the originator of the DSP Proposal, and by the Fair Labor Association (FLA):
- USAS: Frequently Asked Questions - October 20, 2005
- FLA: Questions for UAC - November 7, 2005
- USAS: USAS' Response to FLA's Questions - November 9, 2005
- FLA: “Issues and Comments Concerning the Designated Suppliers Program” – February 17, 2006
- FLA: Letter to Jim Wilkerson and Scott Nova - July 27, 2006
Materials from Joint WRC-FLA Forums on the DSP
At the request of universities, the WRC and the FLA held two joint forums to discuss the DSP. The first forum was March 30th in Berkeley, CA, and the second was March 31st in Chicago. The following materials are related to those meetings.
WRC Executive Director Thoughts on the Joint WRC-FLA Forums on the DSP – April 4, 2006 Opening Remarks from Scott Nova – March 31, 2006
Audio recordings from the Chicago Forum – March 31, 2006 To listen to the following mp3 files, click on the title of each session. To save the file to your computer, right-click the link and choose "save target as" or "save link as" - you will then be asked where you would like to save the file. Given the large file sizes, saving them to your computer is recomended, especially if you have a slow internet connection. On a broadband connection, downloads should take about 10-20 minutes.
Meeting sessions (listed in chronological order):
- Presentation by Scott Nova (19.4 MB)
- Presentation by Auret van Heerden (19.4 MB)
- Presentation by Mark Barenberg (16.4 MB)
- Presentation by Jorge Perez-Lopez (16.3 MB)
- Question and Answer session (77.5 MB)
- Concluding Comments (4.4 MB)
Press Clippings
- "Codes Don't Work" Inside Higher Ed - September 28, 2006
- "Students vs. Sweatshops, Round III" In These Times - August 2006
- "Campus Breakthrough on Sweatshop Labor" The Nation - June 1, 2006
- "8 Colleges Sign On to Anti-Sweatshop Plan" The Chronicle of Higher Education - March 17, 2006
- "Duke to Monitor Apparel Factory Conditions" ESPN - February 14, 2006
- "Students Confront Sweatshops" The Nation - November 28, 2005
