It was common to keep memorabilia from college years, such as jewelry and clothing, in previous decades, but has that school spirit vanished? There seems to be an unclear decision at Lewis University, since both faculty and students have various views on the matter.
Walking around campus, there is such a wide, diverse range of clothing and styles that it is difficult to determine how many students and faculty participate in wearing Lewis spirit-wear. The majority of the Lewis community are commuters, too, and keeping a record of the spirit is impossible. However, even if members of Lewis do not wear the clothing, they still own articles of clothing sold in the bookstore, either as gifts to themselves or from others.
“I own a large selection of Lewis attire, from coats to shorts and everything in between,” said John Kilpatrick. The amount of clothes owned by faculty is a range from Kilpatrick’s selection to Dr. Lawrence Hill, who admits he owns a sweatshirt, or two.
Students also own a range of attire of Lewis clothing. “I own some sweat pants, shirts and a fleece,” said junior Sean Barber. Sophomore Allison Penchar declares she has two Lewis shirts. “One of them is from the community service we had to do when we were freshmen, and the other one was given out for free during [freshman orientation],” she said.
Prices of the articles of clothing pose an issue for purchases made in the bookstore. This was the only concern both students and faculty had in common.
“The prices are high on several things,” said Kilpatrick. “I attend events at other universities, and can almost always find something within my price range. This is not the case in our bookstore.”
Barber agrees that the bookstore is overpriced. He claims if there is a search a student might find a reasonable price on an item, but on average, the clothing is expensive.
So how can the Lewis community support the school if the bookstore sells items too high for college students?
The bookstore is not owned by Lewis University, but by an outside retailer named Follett Higher Education Group. Follett introduced its first vendor code in 1995, which has been revised three additional times, and established the Vendor Labor Code of Conduct.
This particular code of conduct involves fair labor practices and prohibits contributing and distributing merchandise from sweatshops. American vendors such as Gear Sports, Champion, Under Armour and many more provide the clothing in the bookstore. “The actual clothing is made outside of the United States, usually in countries like China, Pakistan, India, Costa Rica, Mexico, etc.,” said Esther Brown, regional manager of Follett. “The factories are owned by foreign companies, but have to follow codes of conduct as established by the American vendors.”
After informing a few faculty and students, their opinions changed saying that it was fine with them to pay more money if the clothes were not enforcing sweatshops.
“It really does change my thinking,” said Barber. “If we have to pay a little more to avoid sweatshop products, that is ok in my book.”
Senior Britta Halpin also agrees that the prices do not seem as expensive since the bookstore is not encouraging sweatshops.
Dr. William Marker did not find the prices relevant, but did not seem to agree with the avoidance of sweatshops. “That doesn’t impress me,” he said. “There is a legitimate argument that developing countries need so called ‘sweatshops’ to pull them out of poverty. Sometimes the workers in these sweatshops, often women, choose this type of work to establish their independence; these options enable women to leave abusive husbands and fathers. No one ever asks what would happen to these workers if the sweatshops closed down to our boycotts, nor do they acknowledge that these so called unfair wages are often very generous given the cost of living in these countries.”
Marker continues by using an example from a story about a woman who worked in a sweatshop, who could pay for mosquito nets for both of her children, rather than choose which child would be protected from malaria.
In regards to Follett’s fair labor codes, Brown ensures that many of its vendors are members of Fair Labor Association (FLA) and/or The Workers’ Rights Consortium, which are in relation to providing positive working conditions to its employees, and prohibit the use of child and sweatshop labor.
Brown said, “We are the first retailer in the college bookstore industry to take a stand and demand that vendors commit to fair labor code of conduct if they are going to do business with [Follett].”
She then interjected that today, 95 percent of the company’s clothing suppliers and only half of its gift vendors are affiliated with the FLA.
She also mentioned how Follett does not manufacture or produce any of its own merchandise, employ any person who does so or own nor operate any factories.
Elio DiStaola, director of campus relations for Follett, mentioned that its merchandising team works ethically to bring products to its customer’s wants, such as Lewis, while also leveraging and negotiating the best prices.
In addition to the prices being too high, Lewis faculty and students mentioned that there is lack of spirit on campus because there is little promotion for spirit, even with Flyer Red Fridays.
Dr. Joyce Hayward said, “I teach non-resident graduate students, so I don’t hear them talk much about Lewis events; however, the posters that I see and the announcements about Flyer Red Fridays suggest that people are encouraging spirit.”
Flyer Red Fridays are sent to Lewis e-mail accounts, announcing the faculty member and/or student who were caught wearing red on Friday, who then would receive a certificate to the bookstore.
Some students are not as enthused about the red on Fridays, however. Freshman Angela Cusak explained she does not wear red on Fridays because she tends to forget.
Penchar said she wore red on the spirit day when she was a freshman, but does not participate anymore. “I don’t see too many other people doing it, and I just don’t really feel associated enough,” she said. “Now, it’s like a Friday where I’m just going to my class.”
So, is there spirit at Lewis? Yes, but very little and unrecognized. Follett might assist this promotion by lowering prices and keeping them affordable for students.
More students and faculty might also support Lewis with wearing its attire if there were more promotions and possibly restructure Flyer Red Fridays to just Flyer Fridays, and allow students to win a prize from the bookstore for wearing any Lewis apparel.
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