"I'd be disappointed if what happened today will take that focus and shift it elsewhere," he said. "I just don't think today was particularly constructive."

PSLM members said sit-ins taking place on other campuses sparked the administration's swift response.

Three sit-ins have broken out at colleges over the past week.

The University of Pennsylvania recently gave in to student demands, ending a nine-day standoff. Two sit-ins, at the University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin, are still ongoing. At Wisconsin, more than 50 students entered the chancellor's office and six locked themselves together with bicycle locks. Police officers forced their way into the building and used pepper spray to subdue the demonstrators.

"There's national pressure growing, and the administration is scared that something like that is going to happen here," Offner said.

Protesters at Harvard and across the country are demanding that universities leave the Fair Labor Association (FLA) and join the Workers' Rights Consortium (WRC). Both organizations are designed to monitor conditions in overseas factories manufacturing collegiate apparel, but activists charge that the FLA is too closely tied to corporate interests to be effective.

Less than an hour after the PSLM protesters left Mass Hall, administrators clustered in the building to discuss the demonstration. The group included Ryan, Riley, Associate Dean of the College David P. Illingworth '71 and Executive Assistant to the President Beverly B. Sullivan. Harvard President Neil L. Rudenstine, who was on the second floor of Mass Hall during the protest, did not attend the meeting.