Students continued their campaign to get Yale to CLEAN UP ITS ACT and take a stand against HEI. On Wednesday November 11, about 30 students, Yale union members, two members of Local 217 who work at the Omni Hotel, and community supporters gathered outside the Vice President’s office with Peter Ho, a houseman from the HEI San Francisco Le Meridien. Peter Ho and a student delivered a gift basket of cleaning supplies HEI while others fliered and chanted outside. Yale police prevented others from entering the building to delegate the Vice President, helpfully escalating the action to where we know she got the message. The group then went to the Yale Investment Office to demand that Peter Ho be allowed to speak to the people responsible for funding his union-busting company, but the police were already waiting—according to one of the police officers, the investment office even shut down the elevator to keep students and Peter from entering their office!

On November 10, HEI workers picketed the Sheraton hotel in Arlington, Virginia with supporters from the nearby union Embassy Suites, Doubletree, and Hilton hotels. Workers marched outside chanting:

¡El pueblo unido, jamas sera vencido! ¡Sheraton, escucha - estamos en la lucha! HEI, rich and rude, we don't like your attitude!

As Sheraton workers marched, students took action on their campuses in solidarity with HEI workers! Students from across the country responded to the action alert from United Students Against Sweatshops. Students sent over 850 faxes to the HEI Sheraton Crystal City in support of the workers’ demands, and over 850 e-mails and faxes to university administrators!

Georgetown launches HEI Campaign!!

On Monday November 2, Georgetown became the most recent university to demand transparency and justice in their endowment and back HEI workers' demand for a card check neutrality agreement.

Students from the Georgetown Solidarity Committee, part of United Students Against Sweatshops, led a rally, march and delegation to their president. They were joined by two workers from the HEI Sheraton Crystal City - Ferdi Lazo, a fired union leader and maintenance engineer, and Santos Andrade, a union leader and cook. Ferdi and Santos spoke about about injustices in their hotel, including excessive workloads, layoffs, disrespect, low wages, and expensive health insurance plans. Afterwards, students and workers together presented a letter of demands to Georgetown's administration. The students want to know if Georgetown is invested - if the answer is yes, they call on the univesity to divest and if the answer is no, they call on the university to issue a statement that they will not invest in the future unless HEI agrees to a fair process for workers to decide whether or not to form a union without intimidation.

From the Yale Undergraduate Organizing Committee: "At 9am today, six Yale students paid a visit to the Yale Investments Office (YIO). Bringing with us a variety of cleaning supplies, such as a push broom, dust-busters, windex and paper towels, we proceeded to clean the lobby of the YIO. We went to clean the YIO today because we believe that the Investments Office needs to CLEAN UP THEIR ACT! Operating almost completely behind closed doors, the Yale Investments Office has yielded a series of scandals. From South Africa in the 80's to HEI Hotels & Resorts today, the number of times that Yale has been accused of profiting from unjust business activities is shocking. These scandals and the University's attempts to hide and cover them up, have left many Yale students alienated from their own University. We left them a letter containing the signatures of many Yale students who would like to see Yale support the rights of workers at HEI, a company in which Yale is a major investor."

On Friday, October 2, the University of Pennsylvania’s Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) held a rally opposing the university’s support of HEI! About 25 Penn students attended the rally, as well as almost 60 students from Washington University in St. Louis, Yale, Sarah Lawrence, Princeton, Grinnell and more who were at Penn for the Responsible Endowments Coalition conference. Some led cheers, some held signs, some handed out fliers, and a group attempted to speak to the university’s president, Amy Gutmann, and deliver a letter signed by all attendees. The rally then moved to the Wharton school--Wharton is using a boycotted HEI hotel, the San Francisco Le Meridien. The delegations consisted of about twenty students from various colleges with three workers from the HEI Sheraton Crystal City. Unfortunately, neither president Amy Gutmann nor the dean of Wharton, Tom Robertson, would speak to the students and workers, so the letters were left with their assistants. Penn definitely heard the message, though--the rally ended with the chant, “We’ll be back!” showing that the students of Penn will not stop until the university stops supporting HEI.