Spotlight: Levi Strauss Honored for Anti-Racism Effort

President Clinton honored Levi Strauss & Co. for its effort to fight racism and promote diversity with the first Ron Brown Award for Corporate Leadership, named for the Commerce secretary who died in a 1996 plane crash in Croatia. The privately held San Francisco-based clothing maker was recognized for Project Change, an anti-racism initiative. Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM was also honored. Levi, which last year slashed a third of its U.S. plant jobs, this week said fiscal 1997 sales dropped 3.9%.