After reading the article titled "Student group seeks investigation "(Jan. 31 Exponent), I was deeply disturbed by our new administration’s affinity for selling out to the Worker Right’s Consortium. It seems as though President Jischke is more interested in good public relations than good sense. He insisted on joining and now supporting this communist organization against the wishes of any Purdue economist worth their salary. Through his actions, Jischke has exhibited a fundamental misunderstanding of the effects of central control and regulation on economic production.

Adding to the ridiculousness was Negin Almassi’s statement that "our Code of Conduct can restore their safety and livelihood." What an arrogant statement.

The only thing that can restore their safety and livelihood is for the workers to increase their market value through intelligence and hard work. If the employer sees that a worker adds value to the company, then the worker will have power and be compensated for it.

To quote the late Justice Louis Brandeis: "Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil minded rulers. The greater dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding."

I urge the members of Purdue Students Against Sweatshops to please read some of the wonderful book by the Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman entitled "Free to Choose." If they can open their minds just a little bit to the fact that no one can manage the global economy as well as the free market, then we will all be better off, including the workers in so- called "sweatshops."

Finally, who is funding this trip? I certainly hope my tuition is in no way going to support these institutions based on communist ideals detrimental to the foreign worker.