Another sit-in at UW

Student activists at the University of Washington today staged a second sit-in against the UW’s Husky Stadium concessions contract with Sodexo, a corporation long known for worker rights abuses.

The UW Kick Out Sodexo Coalition staged their first sit-in on May 11, in the offices of UW Interim President Phyllis Wise. There, 27 students were arrested for trespassing, and later released. Today, at 3:45 p.m., some 21 students occupied the office of UW Athletics Director Scott Woodward. They were joined by the Rev. Richard Lang, pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church.

The coalition, comprised of 19 UW student organizations, the UW student government, faculty and local community leaders, has been demanding that President Wise immediately terminate the UW’s $3.4 million concessions contract with Sodexo. Wise has refused to take such action, most recently at a meeting on Wednesday with the coalition.

Today’s sit-in was the 10th in the last month alone organized by students across the country affiliated with United Students Against Sweatshops to protest Sodexo’s practices and a range of other campus-related worker rights issues.