Campus group promotes fair trade

A campus justice committee is raising awareness and dedicating a week to equal wages for workers worldwide as well as other global justice topics. The Fair Trade for Global Justice Committee will host Global Justice Week starting today. The week will include a wide variety of events and activities to inform about fair trade and global justice.

The Global Justice Committee is made up of five students who work through the Newman Catholic Center to promote global justice awareness on campus.

“Fair trade guarantees the person who makes the product fair wages for what they do,” said Sara Boro, a member of the Fair Trade for Global Justice Committee.

The Fair Trade Global Justice Committee is a part of the Haiti Connection, which is a group that goes to Haiti twice a year to work with Catholic Relief Services, Boro said.

She said that the committee has a consignment sale featuring fair trade products once a year, but that the Newman Center sells fair trade coffee all year around.

Monday will include a panel discussion about military spending in the United States and a display in the South Quad. The discussion will occur at 7 p.m. in the Arcola-Tuscola Room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union. Lena Elmuti, a member of the committee, said Barbara Lawrence, professor of mathematics Charles Delman and Roy Lanham, the committee’s sponsor, will be speaking.

The display in the South Quad will demonstrate how much the United States spends on the military versus other countries.

Tuesday features the topic of immigration. A presentation called “Voices of Immigration” will be given in the Charleston-Mattoon Room of the Union at 7 p.m.

Boro said one of the speakers will be an immigrant teen who is currently going to Charleston High School. Johnathon Coit, a professor in the history department, will direct the panel.

The fair trade sale will take place Wednesday in the South Quad from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Students can purchase fairly-traded gifts ranging from jewelry to coffee to olive oil, Elmuti said.

On Thursday, the committee will be showing a documentary called “Stolen Childhoods” which features stories from child laborers around the world, including the United States. The film will be shown in Lumpkin Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. and a discussion will follow.

Friday will detail fair trade in a discussion called “Brown Bag Justice: How Fair Trade Works.” The discussion will be held at the Java B&B in the Union at 11 a.m.

Robyn Dexter can be reached at 581-2812 or redexter@eiu.edu.