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More than just fair trade

By Samuel Sukaton

June 2, 2010 10:09 p.m.

I’m not a coffee person; but when I need a pick-me-up, I try to go to Cafe 1919. Their cookies are addictive, and I feel better knowing my coffee is fair trade.

While UCLA tries hard to promote responsible business practices from its manufacturers, it could do more in encouraging Los Angeles and California businesses to invest in a presence on campus. UCLA should not neglect the local while promoting good business practices globally.

Kerckhoff Coffee House and Cafe 1919 serve fair-trade coffee and chocolate. UCLA switched to Pepsi when students protested Coca-Cola’s investment in apartheid-era South Africa. To this day, Pepsi, rather than Coke, is served on the Hill. Finally, UCLA Licensing specifically checks manufacturers of clothing with Bruin logos for socially responsible business practices.

UCLA Trademarks and Licensing Director Cynthia Holmes defined “social responsibility” as fair labor standards, safe work conditions and environmental sustainability. ASUCLA Executive Director Robert Williams and Patrick Healey, director of Apparel and Accessories, of the UCLA Store agreed that social responsibility is an enormously important factor in selecting merchandise.

“We do work with a variety of retailers,” Holmes said, “but the underlying thing is quality.”

Holmes emphasized the importance of the vetting process and the “increasing amount of time and attention” spent on social responsibility in UCLA product manufacturers. A recent example of this is ASUCLA’s decision not to renew a contract with Russell Athletic following concerns about the company’s labor practices in Honduras in 2009.

UCLA has about 280 manufacturers licensed to produce UCLA-logo merchandise, with more allowed to sell non-logo products in Ackerman and elsewhere ““ Quiksilver pants, Parker pens and Colgate toothpaste are all available for perusal and purchase in Ackerman, Hill Top and Lu Valle. Granted, UCLA has a long way to go in promoting responsible businesses; Ackerman continues to sell the iPad as Apple faces trouble for employing child labor in China.

In a world where conflict minerals from the Congo find their way into electronic gadgets and Nike continues to pay low wages, UCLA’s attention to ethical businesses internationally is admirable, but the current vetting of applicants isn’t enough. UCLA should actively hunt down manufacturers that might be in line with its vision.

Consider Homeboy Industries, a local outfit that provides services for ex-gang members and at-risk young people in Los Angeles while employing these people in various businesses. Homeboy Bakery, Homeboy Clothing, Homegirl Cafe and Homeboy Maintenance together provide car washes, food, clothing, silkscreening and embroidery across Los Angeles. Profits from these businesses and donations allow Homeboy Industries to provide tattoo removal, drug counseling and career training.

Homeboy’s motto is “Nothing stops a bullet like a job,” and their success is clear in the empathy local Angelenos expressed when the company had to lay off most of its workforce in May. Sadly, that support doesn’t extend down Wilshire to UCLA. While ABC, the Huffington Post and the Los Angeles Times broadcast Homeboy’s struggle to make ends meet during the current recession, campus sources confessed little knowledge about the anti-gang program and business model Homeboy has pioneered in L.A.

This is unfortunate. UCLA’s disconnect from L.A. ““ particularly L.A.-based businesses ““ is thrown into sharp relief in this instance. Ethical practices aimed at coffee farmers in Sumatra are admirable, but where is UCLA’s conscience in L.A.? Almost 350 people were killed in L.A. in the last year and a half, homeless youth here creep toward 15,000 and more than 800,000 people lived below the poverty line a decade ago (that is, a decade before this recession).

Granted, UCLA is not a charity, a halfway house or a bank ““ it’s a university and attendant profit-generating apparatus. Consequently, while UCLA cannot and should not compromise its role as an educational institution (any more than budget cuts already have, that is) it can certainly continue in the “socially responsible” direction it currently tacks toward.

However, as things stand now, the impetus for more L.A.-based, socially conscious businesses at UCLA comes from the businesses themselves ““ ASUCLA takes applications from all comers, but it’s up to ambitious businesses to come to UCLA, not vice versa.

Join me in taking a fresh look at L.A., and in contacting ASUCLA management. UCLA has efforts promoting ethical business globally and developing strong communities locally. Let’s put those two aspirations together.

For more information on Homeboy Industries, go to homeboy-industries.org. Know about a business or product that should be on campus? E-mail Sukaton at [email protected]. Send general comments to [email protected].

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