Still, Bartley says this will not halt the Living Wage Campaign's community activism.

"We know that if we fade away and discontinue our public demonstrations...the political will to make a decision [won't be there]," he says.

Keeping the Pressure On

Students Against Sweatshops are also cautiously optimistic about their approval of the University's response to their demands.

PSLM member Daniel M. Hennefeld '99 says Harvard's endorsement of the group's anti-sweatshop principles is only in response to the rising tide among colleges across the country.

"These principles are becoming standard all over the country," Hennefeld says. "Schools look bad if they don't have [them]."

In addition, while the University has endorsed the group's goals in principle, the two diverge widely over the remaining issues of monitoring and enforcement.

In March, Harvard announced its affiliation with the Fair Labor Association (FLA), a monitoring organization designed to oversee several universities. According to PSLM, the University is also looking into independently hiring the accounting firm Price-Waterhouse-Coopers.

Students Against Sweatshops say they can't rely on either group because they are both tied to corporate interests.

Group members say they want Harvard to set up an independent monitoring system--free from the influence of manufacturers--and to establish a formal committee that will shape the University's anti-sweatshop policy.

According to Hennefeld, the committee should be composed of students, faculty and administrators, and should have the power "to make formal recommendations to the president and the corporation."

"The decision to enroll in FLA is something that the committee should have been involved in," Hennefeld says.

While Students Against Sweatshops have been pushing the administration, members say they have yet to receive an adequate response. Last week, the group received a letter saying that such a committee could not be formed by mid-May as PSLM requested, or even by the end of semester.

"We see it as an attempt to exclude students," Hennefeld says.

If the demands of Students Against Sweatshops are not met, Hennefeld says the group may have to resort to demonstrating publicly, in addition to negotiating, much like their Living Wage counter-parts.

"We don't see the two as irreconcilable," Hennefeld says. "It looks like it may take more public confrontational actions to get Harvard to do this now."