Podcasts: Looking at a Living Wage in Dayton as Economic Rights

🎙🎧Listen to Podcasts:

Interview with former Dayton City Commissioner Dean Lovelace 

Interview with UD Professor Richard Stock

Suffering from the effects of the relentless pandemic beginning in 2020, the year 2021 continues to prove how crucial it is to have conversations surrounding the concept of human rights. At the University of Dayton, we value the critical study and understanding of these concepts, whether it be through one’s own research or a class’s collective study. The University started its undergraduate human rights studies program in 1998 with a minor and now offers a major and a minor in human rights.

In Spring 2021, students enrolled in Dr. Caroline Waldron’s Introduction to Human Rights (200) course - a class required of all human rights studies majors - discussed everything from the origin of human rights to the present condition of these concepts. At the end of the course, students were tasked with conducting research on Living Wage in Dayton and how it is intertwined with human rights. Students were given the opportunity to meet with experts from the University of Dayton and the Dayton City Commission Office. After concluding their research, students were asked to formulate a podcast that illustrated the data they collected. 

In this blog, we highlight two of the podcast episodes from the class. The first was created by Ahmi Moore, Kinsleigh Jones, and Christianna Surratt and focuses on information obtained from Dayton’s City Commission Office about former City Commissioner Dean Lovelace’s fight for economic rights to be enacted in law in Dayton, in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) articles 23-25 & 27 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1, 3, and 8. In this episode, we underscore the idea that people are entitled to an adequate life, which requires an adequate living wage. The second podcast was created by Nathan Campbell, Elizabeth Brahler, and Brock Begesha, and showcases insights from the University’s own Professor of Economics, Richard Stock. His research informs us of the disparities between economic classes and their impact on access to education. The interview highlights how this issue could possibly be resolved by enacting a higher living wage. 

Both podcasts demonstrate how the rights enshrined in the UDHR transcend the original 1948 draft and have, since then, been embedded within today’s social structure. This is exemplified in the United Nations’ recent proposal of the SDGs. The reinforcing nature of the two agendas emphasize the ways in which economic rights are human rights. As mentioned in our podcast, there is a direct correlation between UDHR articles 23-25, & 27, which establish the rights to work, join unions, rest and leisure, social security and an adequate standard of living, and to culture and scientific progress- including benefits from one’s work, and SDGs 1 on poverty reduction, 3 on health, and 8 on decent work. Following the correlation between the two agendas enables us to gain a more critical understanding of how economic disparities are just as much a human rights issue as disparities in gender or other areas. 

Please enjoy our podcasts for an in-depth overview of how economic rights are human rights and what that means in a place like Dayton, Ohio.

🎙🎧LISTEN TO PODCAST   

Interview with former Dayton City Commissioner Dean Lovelace 

Interview with UD Professor Richard Stock

Ahmi’ Moore is a sophomore human rights studies and English major from Xenia, Ohio. As an Abolition Ohio intern at the HRC, Ahmi' focuses on furthering anti-trafficking efforts through education, advocacy, awareness-raising, and research.

Podcast Creators in Human Rights 200 "Introduction to Human Rights" class:

Kinsleigh Jones, Ahmi Moore, Christianna Surratt, Nathan Campbell, Elizabeth Brahler, and Brock Begesha  

Dr. Caroline Waldron is an Associate Professor of History at UD and Faculty Research Fellow with the HRC. During the academic year of 2015-16, she served as the Special Advisor to the Provost on Gender and Equity. She was the first person to hold this important position at the University of Dayton.

Coffee Spotlight Series

Early mornings and late-night cramming sessions for college students around the world share something in common, the beverage they are drinking - COFFEE! As an international commodity, coffee is loved by many around the world. Whether it’s the conversations that are formed around a cup of joe, or the inviting smell that makes us feel ready and renewed for the day, coffee satisfies more than just the physiological need for beverages. Unfortunately, due to the astonishing global demand for coffee, this industry is considered to be one of the largest worldwide perpetrators of forced labor. 

Forced labor is a violation of human rights, as workers are coerced to work long hours in harmful conditions with insufficient pay. In countries around the world, predominantly, but not limited to, in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, coffee farmers and workers are often exposed to health and safety risks, including the use of toxic pesticides without protective equipment. However, there are various nonprofit organizations and coalitions that are striving towards improved human and workers’ rights for farmers and their employees. These rights include guaranteeing workers the means necessary to satisfy their basic needs, such as food, housing, and education. 

So what do human rights look like in practice and how can we join the cause to help ensure ethical working conditions for coffee farmers? One way to help is through supporting your local coffee shops and businesses instead of large chain corporations. Many independent coffee shops have direct relationships with their roasteries and farms. In a direct trade relationship, issues pertaining to pricing and quality are defined and agreed upon between the producers and roasters. Through these nurtured relationships, both parties receive the long term mutual benefits of transparency and traceability. Moreover, by sourcing ethically made coffee, roasters can have greater control over the quality and social sustainability of their beans.

It is easy to gaze in a coffee house, read a pamphlet or two, and believe a company has ethical and sustainable principles. However, there is a vast amount of work that goes on behind the scenes for a company to proclaim and enforce these values. As a consumer who obtains purchasing power over businesses, it is our duty to become educated and understand how a company can prioritize fair and equal treatment to coffee farmers around the world. 

Over the summer, we conducted virtual in-depth interviews with six unique coffee vendors. These vendors have made it an integral part of their mission to develop long-lasting, mutually beneficial partnerships by employing ethical practices with the farmers who cultivate their crops. We highlight them here and through this blog and one each month on HRC social media platforms: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Our Picks

Reza’s 

Reza's is a specialty coffee roasting company located in Dayton, Ohio. Ethical buying practices are core to the company's beliefs. Owners Audria and Ebi Maki and their children travel to every farm before considering buying their products. In order to learn more about the farm’s sustainability and ethical practices, Reza’s requires information regarding the treatment of both the farmers and pickers. Long-term relationships with their farmers and a deep understanding of how the beans get from plant to shipping container enables Reza’s to buy the best quality coffee. Through these extra steps, Reza’s demonstrates its commitment to direct trade transparency. 

La Terza

La Terza Coffee is an artisanal coffee and espresso roasterie that specializes in freshly and expertly roasted coffee beans. La Terza makes it a priority to work directly and transparently with coffee farmers and suppliers from around the globe. Through partnering with small, authentic farms and estates, La Terza guarantees fair and ethical working conditions for their farmers. Since La Terza works with direct trade, they know where every bean comes from, thus ensuring that each farmer and worker is paid a dignified, fair trade wage. 

Deeper Roots

Beginning in Cincinnati, Deeper Roots Coffee set out on a mission to improve the ethics of the coffee business. To achieve this, they advocate for small farmers and communities abroad and in Ohio. They do this by pushing coffee house owners and themselves to reach out to the community at home and by educating the farmers abroad on the worth of what they are selling to the U.S. This enables the farmers to know what a fair wage actually is for all their hard work. Deeper Roots Coffee also pushes for sustainability throughout its company in packaging, an example being their 12oz packages of coffee in biodegradable bags. If you stop in their shop you will not only find a delicious cup of coffee, but also be able to taste fair trade chocolate and other goodies. 

319 Coffee

319 Coffee was started by two University of Dayton alumni in hopes of promoting social good and the empowerment of art and self-expression through a cup of coffee. The owner’s main focus is to build a community here in the U.S. and abroad where they source coffee in countries such as Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia, Brazil, Ethiopia, and Indonesia. They support farmers and their surrounding communities by paying fair wages and investing time into the community by supporting community-led programs that involve art and self-expression for the youth of the area. 

Yield Coffee Roasters

Yield Coffee was born out of a desire to change the world through specialty coffee and sustainable development. As a small-batch specialty coffee roasting company, its mission is to transform lives through direct-trade, ethical practices, and relational coffees. Every coffee tells a story and Yield Coffee desires to highlight the farmers, the families, and the communities these exceptional coffees represent. Their approach to sourcing coffee is full transparency, direct trade, and through relationships with the farmers, cooperatives, and communities they work alongside.

Equal Exchange

Equal Exchange has been brewing delicious coffee for over 25 years. Their business was formed through what, at that time, seemed like a novel idea: what if food could be traded in a way that is honest and fair, in a way that empowers both farmers and consumers? Their answer to that question was to start a business that was worker-owned. Their co-op has over 100 workers/owners, each holding equal shares and voting rights in the business. This structure has created a unique focus on ethics where people are investing in the company to improve sustainability, instead of focusing on monetary gain. Equal Exchange consistently gets top marks for its care for people and the planet.

Hannah Nicholas’ 20 is pursuing a B.S. in Finance and Operations and Supply Chain Management, graduating in December of 2020. Through her involvement with the Human Rights Center and other experiential learning opportunities, Hannah has grown her passion for corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and social justice. 

Jaimie Franz’ 21 is a senior at the University of Dayton studying International Business Management with a concentration in Global Studies. She hopes to work one day with international law, focusing on sustainable globalization of the world. She increases her experiences of working on similar topics with her work at the Human Rights Center and her professional fraternity on campus, Epsilon Nu Tau. 

Uncovering a Legacy: A Reflection on the History of Peace at UD

My work for the Vietnam Legacies Project started before I even knew it. Last year I took the class “Intro to the Historian’s Craft” with Dr. David Darrow and wrote my final paper on the history of Dayton’s Peace Studies Institute. Before starting my research, I had not heard of the Peace Studies Institute and knew little about the problems of war and peace that prompted a group of students to create it. 

Getting to do hands-on archival research for the first time was an exciting moment on my path to becoming a historian, especially since I got to learn about the history of my own University. Reading everything from Flyer News articles to underground newspapers, old yearbooks with black and white photos, and textbooks composed with typewriters, I discovered a campus full of students facing moral, political, and academic challenges similar to those confronting me and my classmates today. Worries about student rights, and representation, distrust over government missteps both inside and outside of our borders, a growing awareness of civil rights injustices, and a desire to see the Catholic Marianist ideals of the University upheld in all of its actions connect the student activism of the present to the activism of 50 years ago.

The best part of my experience was getting to meet with two former UD students who helped found the Peace Studies Institute: Wayne and Mary Wlodarski (‘74). The Peace Studies Institute was formed in the 1970s by students who were committed to activism surrounding issues of war and peace. The Institute existed for a little over a decade, was entirely student-run, and sponsored several activities and programs such as a mini-course, a newsletter, speakers, protests, demonstrations, and marches, and the Wlodarskis were founding members of the organization.

Historians researching past events don’t always get the chance to encounter people from the time and place they’re studying; speaking with Wayne and Mary added a unique, first-person perspective to my research. Hearing them talk about their experiences as college students frustrated by the injustices they saw at their school and in their country was also inspiring on a personal level.

As with most long-term projects, by semester’s end, I was ready to turn in my paper on the Peace Studies Institute and move on to new subjects. However, just a few months later I was contacted by Dr. Paul Morrow of Dayton’s Human Rights Center, who asked if I would like to continue my research into the Vietnam War’s impact on campus. 

Soon I was back in the Special Collections Library several times a week, poring over boxes of documents in an attempt to uncover every aspect of the Vietnam era at UD. My return to the archives was cut short by the arrival of the coronavirus and Dayton’s campus shutdown, but this had a surprising benefit: it gave me the chance to shift my main research method to interviews! Several alumni and faculty from the ‘60s and ‘70s had significant experiences to share, and now we had the opportunity to gather their stories virtually. 

One of my most interesting interviews was with a Dayton alum whose name appeared many times in the archives, Gigi Bosch-Gates (‘69). She was heavily involved in protests and other anti-war activities during her time on campus, but faced unique challenges in her activism as a woman. One incident, which made it into the Flyer News, occurred while Ms. Bosch-Gates was staffing a table in Kennedy Union providing information about conscientious objection. A professor approached her table to debate with her about the Vietnam War. The situation escalated to the point where strangers not involved in the original conversation came to heckle her, and a football player yelled that women shouldn’t address questions of war and should instead be at home having babies. This was not the only deeply sexist situation Ms. Bosch-Gates faced; in another news article reporting on her speech at a campus anti-war event, the picture showed her from the waist down only, with a crowd of young men staring at her legs and a caption insinuating that they were only paying attention to her body. As frustrating as it was to hear about the obstacles Ms. Bosch-Gates faced as a female activist, it was inspiring to learn about her courageous advocacy during her time at UD, including being arrested at an anti-draft protest on her 20th birthday.

Each interview I conducted offered a new perspective on the political climate of the ‘60s and ‘70s on campus. Dr. John Weiler, a retired Professor of Economics who arrived at Dayton in 1967, described how he saw students become increasingly politically active as the Vietnam War continued. Al Shatteen (‘69), a football player and the first student of color to be elected to student government, shared his experiences as one of very few Black students involved in on-campus activism.

Al Shatteen (right), Saul Alinsky (center) and Jack Boos (left). Al and Jack are accompanying Alinsky as members of Student Government prior to Alinsky's talk at UD in 1967.

While not on campus during the Vietnam War era, HaQuyen Pham (‘07), told me about her experiences as a child of Vietnamese refugees and a member of Dayton’s Vietnamese community, including struggles with reunification after the war, family members’ experiences in reeducation camps, opening up a restaurant, and how the Vietnamese view of the war is drastically different from the American one.

When I initially joined the Vietnam Legacies Project, the plan was to create a physical exhibit detailing the effects of the Vietnam War at UD, but like many plans made this year, this was rendered impossible by the outbreak of COVID-19. Putting together a virtual version of the exhibit proved an equally enriching experience. Compiling all of the information I learned over months of research and seeing it all come together on one beautiful website has been incredible. Reflecting on my work studying the UD of 50 years ago, I hope that UD students 50 years in the future will engage with this period of time on campus with similar interest.

Katie Schreyer is a rising junior double majoring in Music and History.

Main Photo: Student inspects banner from the Peace Studies Institute. University Yearbook, 1973

Conscious Consumerism: Shopping ethically in the time of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic is a health, economic, and social crisis that has significantly affected healthcare, consumer behavior, and the economy on a global scale. As social distancing progressively becomes the new normal, consumer behavior and purchasing habits are quickly adapting to the current environment. Amid a time where the nation’s discretionary spending is significantly reduced, it is imperative for consumers to utilize their dollars towards demanding companies promote and protect the environment and worker’s rights through their business platforms. By using our purchasing power as a voice for change, consumers can press for equitable and sustainable trading partnerships through transparency, respect for human dignity, and accountability. 

Each day, you buy or consume something. Every time you do this, you have the choice to support sustainable development and fair wages within communities through how you choose to spend and invest your money. By voting with our dollars on a collective level, we as consumers can hold businesses to higher sustainable, ethical, and inclusive standards. To help spark innovation within the world of consumerism at UD, we have designed an Ethical Shopping Guide. The goal is to help students and our community as consumers to readily access ethical and fair trade products produced by companies that value people and the planet in addition to profit.

Here are some of insights and facts you need to know to start your journey of conscious consumerism:

What is Ethical Shopping and Fair Trade?

Ethical consumerism is a type of activism which acknowledges that customers not only consume goods, but also the process used to produce those goods. It is more common than not to discover corporations exploiting their workers or destroying the environment in order to cut costs on a product or service. One way to negate these practices is to buy ethically made products crafted by small businesses and local artisans. By supporting ethically sourced businesses, consumers can help to protect the environment while simultaneously avoiding goods that exploit child workers, slave labor, or natural resources. 

Another way of ensuring that a product or service is produced ethically is through fair trade. Built on the recognition that the goods and services exchanged through commerce are connected to the livelihoods and rights of others, supporting fair trade is one way to make a conscious change for a better world. Fair trade is a global movement designed to attain sustainable development by providing rights for marginalized producers and workers through the production of goods and services in developing countries. 

Sustainable development is defined in the United Nations Agenda 2030 which consists of 17 Goals that all countries, including the US, have committed to achieving. Goal 12, Ensuring Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns, goes in-depth with waste management, carbon footprint, recycling of goods and deals with the people within the supply chain. What makes fair trade sustainable is that it enables the workers to be compensated for their means of work so that they can provide for their families and continue working. Through the promotion of greater transparency and traceability in trading partnerships, fair trade practices can ensure equitable commerce systems at every level of the supply chain. Along with number 12 the SDG number 10, “Reduce Inequalities,” stands hand in hand with fair trade, as fair trade goals are to reduce the economic inequality within and between the poorest and richest countries. 

Fast Fashion

In order to keep up with consumer demand and deliver reasonably priced clothing, fast fashion creates style replication with low-quality materials at rapid production levels. This type of consumerism also plays into the belief that outfit repeating is considered a fashion faux pas and that one must wear the latest look in order to stay on-trend. Based on a toxic system of overconsumption, the fast-fashion business has become one of the biggest polluters of the environment and most wasteful of natural resources globally. 

As new clothing styles drop every week, consumers in wealthy countries or communities come to think they need to buy the latest styles to stay relevant. This overconsumption in the fashion industry leads to an overproduction of clothing waste. When it comes to throwing away clothing, present-day technologies have a hard time transforming unwanted clothing into fibers that could be repurposed to create new goods. Recycling methods, such as chemical digestion or shredding, work inadequately and there are unfortunately not big enough consumer markets to absorb the sheer volume of recycled clothing. 

In simple terms, the following statistics, published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, give us an idea of how negatively fast fashion impacts the world: 

• Fast fashion ranks second as the world’s largest polluter, oil ranks first.
• Almost 60% of clothing ends up in incinerators or landfills within a year of being made.
• The fast fashion industry emits 1.2 billion tons of CO2 equivalent per year which is more than the emissions created by air travel and international shipping.
• It takes over 2,700 liters of water to make one t-shirt. This is equal to the amount of water the average person drinks in a three-year period.

So how can a consumer avoid fast fashion? The easiest solution is to buy ethically made goods.

What are Greenwashing and Fairwashing?

Consumers must also be wary of companies who partake in greenwashing. The terms ‘greenwashing’ or ‘fairwashing’ describes communicating deceitful or ambiguous information on the ethical nature of a company's products. For instance, companies involved in greenwashing could attest that their products are made from recycled or compostable materials that are beneficial to the environment. While some of the claims could be partly true, businesses occupied in greenwashing regularly overemphasize their claims in an aim to misguide consumers. Therefore, consumers are often deceived, relying solely on what the company is portraying on the brand’s package. There are, however, ways to avoid falling into the trap of greenwashing or fairwashing:

1. Read the fine print and examine the product and packaging. For example, the product may be packaged in 100% recycled material, but what about the components that make up the actual product?
2. Look for minimal/recycled packaging wherever possible.
3. Look for justification and context behind the following buzzwords: Organic, green, eco-friendly, low-impact, low emissions, etc.

Online Shopping 

While online shopping may serve as a convenient and safe way to purchase goods during the global pandemic, it is important to keep in mind labor and workers’ rights when browsing through online stores. Labor rights are human rights related to working conditions connected to employment. While workers’ rights are crucially important in maintaining a safe work environment, many nations do not employ or enforce adequate labor laws. As a result of overlooking these rights, laborers are put into dangerous working conditions in order to cut costs on the product or service. For example, the poor treatment of laborers in the fast fashion industry was recently highlighted after the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, Bangladesh fatally collapsed in May 2013. This catastrophe killed more than 1,100 garment workers and injured at least 2,000 workers.

Child labor exploitation also occurs when labor laws are insufficient or loosely forced. In 2017, the U.S. Department of Labor uncovered 152 million children, between the ages of 5-17, working as child laborers globally. Of the 152 million, an astonishing 73 million children are engaged in hazardous and life-threatening conditions. While the agriculture industry is the largest employer of child labor, another well-known child labor industry is mining. Children in Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are known to work in perilous conditions to mine cobalt, a key mineral within rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. These same lithium-ion batteries are embedded in Apple and Microsoft products and sold in big box stores and throughout Amazon. 

This is not Amazon’s first offense to the exploitation of workers’ rights. While Amazon continues to expand in popularity for its cheap prices and rapid delivery, warehouse workers behind the scenes are paying for it with grueling work and bottom-level salaries. The nonstop pressure to meet increasing fulfillment metrics and quotas has generated a culture in Amazon where stressed and fatigued employees are treated more like machines than humans.

One way to navigate the online space and avoid big box and online stores like Amazon is through using the DoneGood browser plugin. While shopping online, the DoneGood plugin will automatically search the internet for ethical, sustainable brands and products that match your search. By supporting ethically sourced shops, consumers can demand ethical sourcing and garment transparency within fast fashion companies.

What is a self-audit? 

So how does one know for certain that the products found in everyday stores are produced ethically according to fair trade standards? One way to find out is by conducting a food waste audit. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, food waste is the single largest component of waste sent for disposal, where it generates methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. By orchestrating a food waste audit on your daily eating habits,  households will have a better idea of how and where to reduce food waste.

Another way to discover if products are produced ethically according to fair trade standards is through utilizing the University of Dayton's Ethical Shopping Guide as an educational auditing tool. Also, use the “Low Impact Living Checklist,” below, for some simple swap-outs to make your daily routine more sustainable. By listing out all the areas in your life that could use conscious consumerism improvements and setting goals to slowly replace them with ethical alternatives, consumers can choose to support responsible businesses, empower farmers and workers, and protect the environment. 

So we encourage you to get started! With the Covid-19 pandemic, it is now more important than ever to take action and challenge corporate malpractice that hurts our environment, animal welfare, and the rights of everyone.

Hannah Nicholas ’20 is pursuing a B.S. in Finance and Operations and Supply Chain Management, graduating in December of 2020. Through her involvement with the Human Rights Center and other experiential learning opportunities, Hannah has grown her passion for corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and social justice. 

Jaimie Franz '21 is currently a senior at the University of Dayton studying International Business Management with a concentration in Global Studies. She hopes to work one day with international law and through her work at the Human Rights Center and her professional fraternity on campus, Epsilon Nu Tau  

Independent Revolts: Women on UD’s Campus from 1968-1971

Mrs. Lynn Brumfield ‘71 is an extraordinary woman who we interviewed about her mother, Betty Perkins. Her mother was a champion of women’s rights on the University of Dayton campus, a pioneer in the University’s Title IX process, and one of the driving forces behind the establishment of the Women’s Studies Program. Lynn, an activist for the women’s movement in her own right, offers fascinating insight into the life of women on the University of Dayton campus during the tumultuous period of the late sixties and early seventies. We included some of those insights in our review of the women’s rights movement at the University, summarized in our previous blog post. 

Lynn began her time at the university in 1968 when women could not attend class unless they were wearing a skirt. In a time when jeans and a tee-shirt were the outfit of choice for young women, many protested this rule by wearing their nightshirts under a raincoat to class, making it appear that they were adhering to this rule. Lynn remarks that these women were performing “independent revolts.” She explains the girls’ mentality: “You won't let me put on my jeans and a T-shirt and to come to class? Okay. Watch what I'll do… I'm going to laugh all the way to the, you know, all the way to class. And while I'm sitting there, I'm going to giggle internally because I have defied you and you don't even know it.” For these women, the act of secretly defying the rules gave them some sense of control over their lives. Times were changing, however, and professors began to accept women in pants in their classes. By Lynn’s sophomore year she notes  that “very few professors were throwing girls out of class for not having a skirt on.” Not long after that, the rule was changed. 

Women faced many struggles during this period, especially when attending college. Many men considered female students frivolous and believed that they were not serious students, simply because of their gender. Lynn recalls that there was a saying on campus that “Women went to school to get their MRS. In other words, you went to find a husband who was going to make good money for you. It wasn't because you were pursuing a profession.” Lynn argues that being a feminist means having “a sense of pride in oneself and the freedom to develop as you want.” She believes that whether a woman wishes to enter the professional field or become a stay-at-home mother, women should have that opportunity to make a decision and not be denied access to these options. 

Lynn attended the University of Dayton during a time of profound change. Because of the Vietnam War and the protests about it on campus, the previously compulsory ROTC program for men was deemed no longer mandatory in 1969. As such, there were no longer any compulsory classes for men. However, the women’s equivalent courses, physical education and health were still required in order to graduate, a norm that Lynn viewed as discriminatory. She argued to her advisor that “Men don't have to take health. They don't have a [compulsory] thing. I have all the credits I need. I guess I'll wait a year till you change the policy. Then you'll graduate me.” Her advisor was not happy with her decision but allowed Lynn to graduate on time, despite never taking the mandatory health class. The following year the compulsory classes for women were dropped from the course catalog. 

The controversy surrounding the Vietnam War was one avenue through which women could gain a voice on campus. With no organized activism for the women’s movement on campus in the 1960s and early 70s, women flocked to other social movements. Anti-Vietnam War and civil rights groups were popular choices with women taking on various leadership positions in these organizations. Lynn remarks that in doing this, women were “establishing themselves, perhaps through the back door.” From sit-ins at Father Roesch’s office to seminars in Zehler Hall, the anti-Vietnam war demonstrations were quite prevalent on campus from 1966 onwards and allowed women to have their voices heard by their peers. Some faculty members also supported these activities, including history professor Mary Evelyn Jegen, who later became vice-president of Pax Christi International. Research into student and faculty activism against the war is currently ongoing at the Human Rights Center as part of its Vietnam Legacies Project.

Near the end of Lynn’s time at UD, women’s safety was emerging as an important issue for women on campus. She remarks that “the whole concept of sexual assaults were never even spoken of when I was in school.” It was considered a taboo topic. In an effort to protect women, the University of Dayton decided to limit the freedom of female students: women were required to be in their dorms by midnight for their own safety. While the world was adjusting to the demands of the women’s movement, it also meant “more freedom, but at the same time, that created less protection” according to Lynn. In this environment, sexual assaults were considered better addressed through interpersonal discussion, meant to be debated amongst women in private. This silence was slowly broken with the next generation of women leaders at UD taking on these issues publicly through marches and campus events in the 1980s and 1990s. Lynn graduated from the University in 1971, returning for her master’s degree in school psychology in 1984.

Hannah Kratofil is a 2020 graduate of the History and Political Science Programs with a certificate in Nonprofit and Community Leadership. Hannah worked as a student intern at the Human Rights Center supporting OpenGlobalRights and SPHR19; she was also a Dayton Civic Scholar.

Alexandra Michalski is a 2020 graduate of the History Program, with minors in English and Film Studies. She worked as a student intern at the University of Dayton Archives and Special Collections.

Human Trafficking in Illicit Massage Businesses

Human rights abuses, including human trafficking, are taking place across the United States in over 9000 illicit massage businesses (IMBs). IMBs are massage establishments or spas that are often fronts for commercial sex. Also known as erotic massage parlors or Asian massage parlors, these sites are scattered across the country in urban, rural, and suburban areas. IMBs have been the second-leading cause of reports to the National Human Trafficking Hotline over the past few years.

Human trafficking is the commercial exploitation of one human being by another by way of force, fraud, or coercion. The purpose of the exploitation can be commercial sex, forced labor, or a combination of the two. The exploitation that occurs at IMBs is a combination of both labor and sex trafficking. Labor trafficking happens when victims are deceived into situations where they are compelled to work long hours for little or no pay, and are often forced to live and remain on site. Sex trafficking occurs when victims are forced or “strongly encouraged” to perform sex acts, colloquially known as “happy endings,” for customers.  

Clusters of IMBs are often owned by the same individual or network. They operate storefronts in strip malls and commercial districts, advertising “relaxation massage” and often using suggestive photos of young Asian women. Most employ middle-aged Chinese and Korean women as massage providers. These women are immigrants looking for a better life who are often deceived and cruelly exploited. Cultural norms can be manipulated by traffickers to ensure that the women stay under their control out of a sense of duty or obligation. Many suffer through the abuse in order to send remittances back home to their families in China or Korea. 

Similar to other forms of commercial sexual exploitation, IMBs use the internet to facilitate transactions. Customers search online for details about specific sex acts offered, provider nationalities and body types, and prices on many different IMB review websites. This is a widespread, well organized industry of abuse and exploitation that operates “hidden in plain sight” across the United States, including here in the Greater-Dayton Ohio region.

Abolition Ohio 2020

Ohio was the first state in the country to regulate the practice of massage. The state medical board licenses all medical and therapeutic massage providers, but non-therapeutic or “relaxation” massage is not covered by the regulation. This loophole has allowed IMBs to spread across the state. Earlier this year we uncovered 247 IMBs advertised or reviewed on commercial sex websites across the state. The ads are explicit and leave no doubt as to their intent.

Abolition Ohio 2020

State and local law enforcement have responded with dozens of raids, arrests, and investigations related to IMBs, while human rights advocacy organizations have offered assistance and provided outreach in the past few years. The level of effort needed to enact change is grueling; even when actions towards progress appear to be successful, IMBs that are shut down in one location can pop back up in another. The response has been likened to a game of “whack-a-mole.” To truly change the IMB landscape, we need to change our strategy. 

In a forthcoming report, Abolition Ohio recommends a set of measures to improve the statewide response. This broad set of recommendations was developed based on out of a social scientific understanding of the current systems and structures related to IMBs. The aim is to decrease exploitation and trafficking and reduce the number of IMBs operating in Ohio. They are:

1. Passage of Senate Bill 105 and House Bill 374, “Change Massage Therapy Licensing Law.” These bills would close the “relaxation massage loophole” and require licensing for all massage providers at all establishments. It also gives townships the same power as cities to regulate massage establishments.
2. Updating and strengthening city ordinances to deal with IMBs. This includes removing stigmatizing policy language that treats massage as a sexual business and clarifying ownership of establishments.
3. Training and technical assistance for local law enforcement agencies to improve understanding of the dynamics of IMBs and the exploitation that takes place.
4. Expansion of culturally competent and sensitive outreach and services to victims and at-risk persons. This should include specific measures to protect victims’ autonomy and that wherever possible and appropriate, their specific experiences and voices are incorporated into decisions made on policy and services.  
5. Addressing demand for commercial sex through the adoption of strong demand reduction policies. These include both increased fines and enforcement for attempting to purchase commercial sex and public education to shift cultural norms that tolerate commercial sexual exploitation.

Tony Talbott is Director of Advocacy at the Human Rights Center. He co-founded and directs Abolition Ohio.

Bailey Johnson is a graduating senior in Human Rights Studies and an intern at the Human Rights Center.

Our Summer Researching the Use of Restraint and Seclusion in Ohio Schools

Restraint and seclusion practices are not typically discussed in conversation about school, but discussions regarding these practices must take place to ensure the right of students to safety in schools. The US Department of Education defines restraint as “a personal restriction that immobilizes or reduces the ability of a student to move his or her torso, arms, legs, or head freely” and seclusion as “the involuntary confinement of a student alone in a room or area from which the student is physically prevented from leaving”. School psychologists are ideal candidates to ensure that restraint and seclusion practices are being used in ethical and safe ways within their district.

The Use of Restraint and Seclusion by School Psychologists
Emily Mosca '21

I spent last summer interviewing school psychologists about restraint and seclusion practices in their districts. We believed that school psychologists would be ideal to interview because they regularly deal with behavior problems, on individual and district wide levels. They are also qualified to recognize developmental issues within the district, and create a plan to address them. I questioned school psychologists about their involvement in and opinions on their district’s restraint and seclusion policies. 

Most school districts in Dayton and Columbus, report very low numbers of restraint and seclusion. When I talked to school psychologists in districts with low numbers, they reported that their involvement with restraint and seclusion was similarly little. They said that the district would review situations where restraint and seclusion were used on a case-by-case basis. With such low numbers, a case-by-case review is the most logical. I then asked the school psychologists whether their district was prepared if these numbers increased. Many responded that they did not feel their district would be ready for increased numbers of restraint and seclusion instances, or how to review larger amounts of this data. It is important to conduct reviews of the data so that schools can be sure they are only using these practices when absolutely necessary. Many school psychologists in these districts also stated that they wanted to see more mandatory training on restraint and seclusion practices for their staff. That way, if restraint and seclusion needed to be used, staff would understand how to perform the procedures in a legal and safe manner.

Looking more closely, there are a small number of districts in Dayton and Columbus, Ohio that report high numbers of use of restraint and seclusion. Many school psychologists from these districts said that they are more involved with these practices. However, even with the high numbers, many of these districts did not internally review their data. Many of these districts still looked at restraint and seclusion instances on a case-by-case basis. While it is important to look at these cases individually after they occur, it is equally important to look at this high volume of data as a whole to make sure procedures are being used in a safe and appropriate manner. The school psychologists interviewed agreed that there should be a more formal analysis of this data; an annual review could consist of  a committee of people that look over the cases for the past year to analyze restraint and seclusion data.

My summer research allowed me to look at the reality of restraint and seclusion practices in Dayton and Columbus; this research has brought the lack of review of data and trends on this critical issue to the attention of school psychologists in these areas. These educational professionals are qualified to change the procedures within the district, and will hopefully make changes to protect their students regarding restraint and seclusion. 

Using Positive Behavior Supports to Minimize the Use of Restraint and Seclusion
Carly Hube '21

The use of restraint and seclusion in schools has sparked much debate amongst educational stakeholders. Restraint and seclusion are strategies that can be implemented when students’ behavior poses an imminent danger to themselves or those around them. While restraint and seclusion strategies can be momentarily effective in de-escalating a student’s behavior, when used incorrectly, they can lead to physical or emotional trauma, and in some cases death. Due to the serious consequences that have arisen from the use of restraint and seclusion in schools, many states, including Ohio, have policies and regulations surrounding their usage. However, there is no federal law to date that mandates the regulation of restraint and seclusion in the schools. 

As Emily and I learned more about restraint and seclusion, a topic that continues to arise is how schools are utilizing positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) to minimize the use of restraint and seclusion. PBIS is a way for educators to promote good behavior amongst students by teaching them strategies to identify and manage their inappropriate behaviors. The main focus of PBIS is to be preventative and not punitive. Ohio educators and policy makers have also seen the importance of using PBIS to minimize the use of restraint and seclusion; Ohio school districts are required to put PBIS in place. Components that must be included are trained staff that can identify under what conditions inappropriate behavior may occur, preventative assessments, preventative behavioral interventions that teach appropriate behavior, and a system that will encourage students to manage their own behavior by teaching explicit self-managing techniques.

When PBIS is implemented effectively, the likelihood of dangerous behavioral situations with students decreases dramatically. Practices that act proactively and comprehensively maximize instruction time, create a positive school culture, and maintain a safe and respectful educational environment. Maximizing instructional time is an essential component to consider when realizing the consequences of restraint and seclusion because when a student is in a restraint or secluded from their peers, he or she is no longer learning . Educators need to be equipped with strategies to de-escalate and manage behaviors in a non-invasive way. 

My research over the summer helped me to understand the importance of PBIS being utilized in the school system. My next steps will be to see if there is a clear relationship between schools implementing PBIS effectively and their rates of using restraint and seclusion. My work on this project will continue throughout the 2019-2020 academic year.  

To conduct this research, Emily and Carly were recipients of the Graduate/Law Summer Fellows grants from the Human Rights Center. Applications are open for summer 2020; apply here.

Emily Mosca and Carly Hube are graduate students in the School of Psychology looking to graduate in 2021.

Anchoring Peace, Justice and Inclusion

A group of UD International Studies majors lead by Dr. Christopher Agnew, Director of the International Studies Program and associate professor in the Department of History, and Shelley Inglis, Executive Director of the Human Rights Center, supported research for the Global Alliance’s report," Enabling the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda Through SDG 16+: Anchoring Peace, Justice and Inclusion."

In the spring of 2019, six International Studies seniors in their capstone seminar were asked to conduct research for a report being produced by the Global Alliance for Reporting on Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies. The students, Guisela Crespo, Hannah Donovan, Nadia Pestell, Danny Pospiech, Ellie Rizzo and Yohaiza Vega, worked under the guidance of Dr. Christopher Agnew, Director of the International Studies Program and associate professor in the Department of History and Shelley Inglis, Executive Director of the Human Rights Center, to aggregate data on the measures and indicators that track global progress in achieving SDG 16+. When they were done they had the opportunity to present their findings to and field questions from the editorial team which consisted of representatives from UNODC, UN Women, UNHCR, OHCHR, UNESCO, and UNDP. 

“The opportunity for our majors to conduct research that would contribute to an actual report presented to the UN was fantastic,” said Dr. Agnew. “The students were working with deadlines and expectations that were extremely demanding. It gave them all a real-world research experience that provided a grounded sense of what working in the field of international development and human rights might be like.” 

The final version of the report, “Enabling the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda Through SDG 16+: Anchoring Peace, Justice and Inclusion", provides an overview of country level actions and progress on SDG 16+ across different regions and development contexts, and highlights key trends and findings on SDG 16+ implementation globally. 

The report had three key findings. First,  “[p]olitical and financial investment is needed to accelerate progress on SDG 16+”. This means that governments have to buy in and take ownership not just in policy but also in action to achieve SDG 16+. Second, “SDG 16+ implementation requires a ‘whole of government’ and ‘whole of society’ approach”, meaning that the responsibility does not fall solely on national government but also state and local governments, and on across all sectors of the society. Finally,  “SDG 16+ is instrumental in protecting fundamental freedoms and ensuring that no one is left behind”. Many people are still prevented from enjoying an equal footing in society and ensuring equality is a key element of SDG 16+.

The report is being presented as part of the United Nations’ High Level Political Forum taking place from 9-18 July 2019 in New York.  Forty-seven countries are presenting their voluntary reviews at this year’s forum which focuses on the following SDGs:

• Goal 4. On Education
• Goal 8. Employment and decent work 
• Goal 10. Inequality within and among countries
• Goal 13. Climate change 
• Goal 16. Peace, justice and inclusive institutions
• Goal 17. Global partnership 

On the evening of July 16th, the Human Rights Center, in collaboration with the Dean’s office of the College and the Human Rights Studies Program, highlighted this report at an event with University alumni in New York. The event, Human Rights & Sustainable Development at the University for the Common Good, was hosted by White & Case, LLP. a corporate member of the Global Alliance, and featured opening remarks by Dean Jason Pierce, reflections by Dr. Natalie Hudson, and student panelists, Hannah Donovan (class of 2019), Mary McLaughlin and Ryan Scott. The students explored the experiential learning opportunities offered in human rights and global issues, including the Moral Courage Project and the Malawi Practicum, and reflected on what they have learned from these experiences. 

“Much of what secured my current position [at the Palladium Group based in Washington, DC in their economic growth team]  are core competencies of Human Rights and International Studies students from Dayton - from new and exciting research areas, strong writing capabilities, and confidence in presentation settings - that stand out in a professional setting,” said Hannah. 

With over 30 Alumni in attendance, the evening provided an exciting opportunity to network and increase awareness of alumni in New York about new and evolving human rights and development opportunities at the University of Dayton.