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Activists Plan a Breather In Wake of Rally

With several of their key demands met, organizers of the "Rally for Justice" yesterday said they would put down their placards for a little while.

"The first thing I'm going to do is take a break," said Benjamin L. McKean '02, a Progressive Student Labor Movement (PSLM) member who helped organize the group's anti-sweatshop campaign.

During the rally Tuesday, the University announced it would disclose the locations of the factories that manufacture Harvard insignia items--"possibly the central demand of the sweatshop campaign," according to McKean.

"At other schools it has taken students hundreds strong to win," McKean added.

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The rally, scheduled to coincide with the full Faculty meeting held inside University Hall, attracted around 350 supporters of PSLM, the Coalition Against Sexual Violence (CASV) and the Living Wage Campaign. The students encircled University Hall, chanting slogans advocating higher wages for University employees, changes in policies regarding sweatshop labor and increased resources for rape survivors.

Members of CASV said they were pleased by the Faculty's decision to dismiss D. Drew Douglas, Class of 2000, after an Administrative Board finding that a rape had occurred. Douglas had pled guilty in Middlesex Superior Court on Sept. 24, 1998, to a charge of indecent assault and battery.

But CASV members also said they have a long way to go before they are satisfied with the College's policies on the issue.

"For us, this is definitely about more than this one case," said Alexis B. Karteron '01, a CASV member.

She said future CASV action will probably involve more dialogue with administrators.

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