WAAKE-UP!

WAAKE-UP!, whose name expanded to World Awareness and Action Koalition of Equal United Progressives, was a student and community coalition associated with the University of Colorado Boulder. Active from 1998 through 2001, it combined campus organizing, public demonstrations, petitions, teach-ins, direct action, and community coalition-building around progressive political and social issues. Its guiding motto was “Action without Awareness is ignorant. Awareness without Action is immoral,” expressing the group’s emphasis on pairing research and public education with pressure on institutions. The coalition supported a range of progressive causes, but its most visible and sustained effort was the Sweatshop Campaign. WAAKE-UP! argued that clothing carrying University of Colorado branding should be produced under enforceable fair-labor standards and that the university should join the Worker Rights Consortium, an organization intended to investigate labor conditions in apparel factories. The group also challenged university investment and licensing practices involving companies that it regarded as connected to human-rights or environmental abuses. Its demands developed in the context of the university’s stated institutional-neutrality policy, which limited institutional positions on political and social issues except where matters directly affected the university, its mission, or academic freedom. In 1999, WAAKE-UP! pressed the university to replace neutrality with an “institutional integrity” approach. It supported a student-union resolution calling for a basic commitment to human rights, ethical investment, and responsible apparel contracting. When university officials did not respond to its written demands, the coalition organized rallies and a traffic-blocking protest near campus, helping secure a meeting with Chancellor Richard Byyny. The following year, it presented detailed apparel-licensing demands that included compliance with human-rights principles, equal pay, and protections against exploitative labor practices. The campaign escalated during spring 2000. WAAKE-UP! protested outside an Abercrombie & Fitch store, staged street theater featuring a large “Sweatshop King” puppet, collected more than 2,000 student signatures, and created a temporary shantytown on the Norlin Quadrangle. The installation, called the “Conference on World Despairs” during the university’s Conference on World Affairs, symbolized the living conditions the group associated with sweatshop labor. Activists maintained the site, held educational sessions, distributed literature, and hosted rallies. Faculty and student representative bodies adopted resolutions broadly supporting ethical apparel standards, although they did not uniformly endorse the coalition’s preferred institutional affiliation. University officials formed ad hoc committees to evaluate the proposals. One committee recommended conditional, one-year membership in the Worker Rights Consortium, while the administration favored considering the Fair Labor Association. WAAKE-UP! criticized the latter model because of the organization’s relationships with apparel-industry participants and perceived conflicts of interest. Chancellor Byyny ultimately declined to sign the committee’s proposed anti-sweatshop policy and instead approved a revised licensing policy. The revised rules addressed legal compliance, discrimination, harassment, child labor, forced labor, and prison labor, but activists considered the language weaker and less specific than their demands. The coalition also became associated with confrontational but largely theatrical nonviolent actions. In May 2000, activist Sara Toombs, connected with the Boulder Biotic Baking Brigade, pied Chancellor Byyny during a campus speech. She was acquitted of assault but convicted of harassment and criminal mischief, receiving probation, community service, and an order to write an apology. WAAKE-UP! treated the outcome and the surrounding demonstrations as part of its continuing critique of university policy. The Sweatshop Campaign did not achieve its immediate objective while WAAKE-UP! was active. However, the group’s aims were later pursued by successor organizations, including 180 at 11, CASA, and the World Workers Justice Committee. WAAKE-UP!’s activism was also documented in the Denver Police Spy Files, a collection of records concerning political and social organizations in Colorado. The coalition is therefore best understood not as a commercial consumer brand but as a historical campus-based activist organization whose “brand” was its name, identity, campaign language, and public organizing.

WAAKE-UP! emerged as a University of Colorado Boulder student and community coalition during a period of heightened campus activism over globalization, corporate accountability, labor standards, and institutional responsibility. The organization operated from 1998 to 2001 and used a name derived from “World Awareness and Action Koalition of Equal United Progressives.” Its motto emphasized that education without action was inadequate, while action without understanding was irresponsible. The coalition’s defining issue was the Sweatshop Campaign. In the late 1990s, WAAKE-UP! argued that university-branded apparel should be made under credible labor protections and that the university should examine the social consequences of its investments and commercial relationships. The campaign followed the University of Colorado’s adoption of the Talloires Declaration in 1996, which articulated a policy of institutional neutrality on social and political issues, subject to limited exceptions. WAAKE-UP! contended that neutrality should not prevent the university from acting when its own apparel contracts, investments, or educational mission were implicated. On April 1, 1999, the student union legislative council unanimously passed a resolution urging university leaders to adopt a basic commitment to human rights. WAAKE-UP! followed with a press conference calling for an “institutional integrity policy.” The group sent university officials material concerning alleged human-rights violations connected with corporations in which the university invested and requested action. When officials did not respond, the coalition organized a campus rally and later blocked traffic near Broadway and Regent Drive until Chancellor Richard Byyny agreed to meet with representatives. The organization expanded its campaign in 2000. It delivered apparel-licensing demands to Byyny, including protections related to equal pay and labor conditions, and demonstrated outside an Abercrombie & Fitch store in Boulder. It also used street theater, including a mock trial involving a large “Sweatshop King” puppet, to dramatize its criticism of exploitative production systems. On campus, it gathered more than 2,000 petition signatures supporting University of Colorado membership in the Worker Rights Consortium. WAAKE-UP!’s most conspicuous action was the shantytown erected on the Norlin Quadrangle in April 2000. The installation was designed to symbolize the housing and economic conditions associated with sweatshop labor. Activists remained at the site in shifts, held teach-ins, circulated educational materials, and organized public events. The structure initially lacked university authorization but later received temporary-structure permits. A rally at the site drew more than 150 people and connected the local apparel campaign with broader concerns about global economic institutions. Institutional support developed unevenly. The Boulder Faculty Assembly passed a resolution supporting the coalition’s general objectives, and the University of Colorado Student Union voted unanimously to support joining the Worker Rights Consortium. Chancellor Byyny created advisory groups to examine the proposal. One group recommended conditional membership in the consortium and evaluation of the Fair Labor Association, but the administration preferred the latter approach. WAAKE-UP! questioned the Fair Labor Association’s independence because of its financial relationships with apparel companies and other monitored interests. Byyny rejected the proposed anti-sweatshop policy and signed a revised apparel policy on May 3, 2000. The new policy addressed compliance with applicable law and prohibited discrimination, harassment, child labor, forced labor, and prison labor, but activists objected to what they viewed as vague language and the removal or weakening of some provisions. Former presidential candidate and consumer advocate Ralph Nader publicly supported WAAKE-UP!’s demands during a campus visit in April. The campaign included acts of civil disobedience and political theater. After Toombs pied Byyny during a campus speech, the ensuing criminal case produced mixed results: assault charges did not result in a conviction, while harassment and criminal-mischief convictions led to probation, community service, and an apology order. Police monitoring and photography of demonstrations also became part of the group’s historical record. WAAKE-UP!’s activities, along with those of other Colorado progressive organizations, appeared in the Denver Police Spy Files. The coalition’s immediate Sweatshop Campaign did not secure all of its requested reforms. Nevertheless, successor groups—identified as 180 at 11, CASA, and the World Workers Justice Committee—later continued related work, and the issues raised by WAAKE-UP! contributed to continuing debate over collegiate apparel licensing, labor rights, and institutional accountability.

• 2001

  Coalition period ends

  [1]WAAKE-UP!en.wikipedia.org

  WAAKE-UP! ceased active operation after a period of activity from 1998 to 2001; successor organizations continued related labor-rights advocacy.

• 2000

  Sweatshop Campaign reaches peak visibility

  [1]WAAKE-UP!en.wikipedia.org

  Petitions, demonstrations, street theater, faculty resolutions, and the Norlin Quadrangle shantytown brought the ethical-apparel dispute to wider campus attention.

• 2000

  Revised apparel policy approved

  [1]WAAKE-UP!en.wikipedia.org

  Chancellor Byyny signed a revised licensing policy after declining to adopt the advisory committees’ proposed anti-sweatshop policy.

• 1999

  Institutional-integrity campaign begins

  [1]WAAKE-UP!en.wikipedia.org

  WAAKE-UP! publicly challenged university neutrality and demanded stronger human-rights standards for investments and apparel contracts.

• 1996

  University adopts the Talloires Declaration

  [1]WAAKE-UP!en.wikipedia.org

  The University of Colorado board of regents adopted a declaration supporting institutional neutrality, a policy that later became a central target of WAAKE-UP!’s investment and apparel activism.

A progressive student and community coalition focused on connecting public awareness with direct action, especially around university apparel labor standards, corporate accountability, human rights, and ethical investment.

• 2000Sweatshop Campaign

  University of Colorado Boulder · Boulder, Colorado

  The coalition demanded ethical university apparel licensing, equal pay, labor protections, and University of Colorado membership in the Worker Rights Consortium. Actions included petitions, rallies, a mock trial, a shantytown installation, teach-ins, and direct action.

  Outcome. The immediate campaign was unsuccessful. The university adopted a revised apparel policy and did not accept all of WAAKE-UP!’s demands; related goals were later pursued by successor organizations.

  Source
• 1999Institutional Integrity Campaign

  University of Colorado Boulder

  WAAKE-UP! sought to replace institutional neutrality with a policy requiring the university to consider human-rights and environmental concerns in investments and apparel contracting.

  Outcome. The coalition did not obtain the full policy it requested, although the issue prompted administrative review and faculty and student resolutions.

  Source

• 2000

  Escalation through the Norlin Quadrangle shantytownStrategy

  Background

  WAAKE-UP! sought a highly visible way to explain sweatshop labor conditions and build support for its apparel-licensing demands during the university’s Conference on World Affairs.

  Action taken

  The coalition built a temporary shantytown, maintained it in shifts, and used it for teach-ins, petitioning, and rallies.

  Aftermath

  The installation attracted public attention and community support, although it did not by itself produce adoption of the coalition’s preferred policy.

  Source

• 2000

  Advocacy for Worker Rights Consortium membershipStrategy

  Background

  WAAKE-UP! considered independent labor monitoring important to credible ethical apparel licensing and was critical of the alternative Fair Labor Association model.

  Action taken

  The group petitioned students, lobbied administrators, and secured unanimous support from the University of Colorado Student Union for joining the Worker Rights Consortium.

  Aftermath

  The university administration did not adopt the requested membership decision and instead moved toward its own revised apparel policy.

  Source

• 2000

  Public direct action against the chancellorStrategy

  Background

  WAAKE-UP! opposed Chancellor Byyny’s rejection of advisory recommendations for a stronger anti-sweatshop policy.

  Action taken

  Associated activist Sara Toombs threw a pie at Byyny during a campus speech; supporters later staged a self-pieing demonstration during the legal proceedings.

  Aftermath

  Toombs was acquitted of assault but convicted of harassment and criminal mischief, receiving probation, community service, and an apology requirement.

  Source

• 2000

  Student and faculty bodies support ethical apparel standards[1]WAAKE-UP!en.wikipedia.org

  Regulation · Other

  University of Colorado student and faculty representative bodies adopted resolutions supporting discussions about ethical apparel licensing and a human-rights-based code of conduct, while the administration continued to weigh competing monitoring organizations.

• 2000

  WAAKE-UP! builds a shantytown on the Norlin Quadrangle[1]WAAKE-UP!en.wikipedia.org

  Campaign · Other

  The coalition constructed a temporary shantytown to represent sweatshop workers’ living conditions, using the site for teach-ins, petitioning, literature distribution, and rallies during the Conference on World Affairs.

• 2000

  Activist convicted after pieing Chancellor Byyny[1]WAAKE-UP!en.wikipedia.org

  Lawsuit · Other

  Sara Toombs was acquitted of assault but convicted of harassment and criminal mischief after throwing a pie at Chancellor Richard Byyny. She received probation, community service, and an apology requirement.

• 2000

  University of Colorado adopts revised apparel policy[1]WAAKE-UP!en.wikipedia.org

  Regulation · Other

  After declining to sign the anti-sweatshop policy recommended by advisory groups, Chancellor Byyny signed a revised apparel-licensing policy covering legal compliance and several labor protections. WAAKE-UP! criticized the policy as insufficiently specific.

• 1999

  WAAKE-UP! challenges University of Colorado investment neutrality[1]WAAKE-UP!en.wikipedia.org

  Regulation · Other

  The coalition called on the university to replace its investment-neutrality policy with an institutional-integrity framework and to address alleged human-rights and environmental concerns involving companies in university investment portfolios.

1. 1WAAKE-UP!en.wikipedia.org