Press Conference Launches Job Boycott Campaign

On Wednesday, October 6, Trinity College announced its participation in a nationwide job boycott campaign sponsored by ECOnference 2000.

ECOnference 2000 is a two-day conference, held this year at the University of Pennsylvania on October15-17, sponsored by 40 socially and environmentally concerned organizations. The goal is to gather, educate and encourage students to participate and be aware of current environmental issues.

The Job Boycott Campaign, organized by Free the Planet!, Green Corps, Sierra Student Coalition, and the StudentPIRGs, intends to secure signatures of graduating college seniors who pledge that they will not take jobs with twelve specific companies, nicknamed the Dirty Dozen.

These companies were chosen because, according to research conducted by members of ECOnference 2000, they are the least socially and economically responsible.

These Dirty Dozen will be announced at a national press conference during ECOnference 2000. The Job Boycott Campaign has a specific goal in mind for each of the companies and hopes to pressure them to successfully complete these reforms more quickly by limiting their job applicant pool.

Jacob Harold, the Regional Coordinator for the Job Boycott Campaign, is very optimistic, mentioning that "the reaction has been positive" at the schools he has visited. In the area, Yale and University of Connecticut will be participating, joining 200 schools across the nation.

Trinity student Amol Modi ('03) is optimistic about the college's involvement. "We intend to have at least half the senior class sign this pledge," he stated.

When asked how he feels seniors will respond to the message coming from an underclassman, freshman Modi said, "I hope the message comes through no matter who is saying it."

Trinity's Dan Lloyd, professor in the Department of Philosophy, also highly encourages seniors to consider signing the pledge.

Lloyd, discussing the Job Boycott Campaign, described it as "the next stage in your education at Trinity College, the stage where you take what you have learned and use it - or not ‹ to live the rest of your adult life."

Harold's hope for the Job Boycott Campaign is that it will go beyond achieving the desired reforms and furthermore "show students that participation grass roots campaigns can be used to create pressure for improvement."

Not only will students be a part of affecting change, but Lloyd states they will also realize that the "search for a job should be informed by values as much as anything else one does in their life. The Job Boycott Campaign is a coalition with an answer: At a minimum, keep your knowledge, your energy, and your creativity out of the pocket of companies that leave the world worse than they found it."

After the ECOnference 2000, Trinity College students are certain to see more information about the Job Boycott Campaign.