Correction Appended
AU Against Coca-Cola and other student groups have taken social action on campus by trying to stop the university from re-signing Coca-Cola as an on-campus food vendor. They claim Coca-Cola is an unfit vendor for AU because the corporation's numerous human rights violations against its workers.
Eight workers at Coca-Cola plants in Colombia have been killed in the past 18 years by paramilitary troops, the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke claims on its Web site. Members of the group said they believe Coca-Cola has been secretly working with these paramilitary troops to stop Coca-Cola workers' efforts to form a union.
The campaign to stop AU from re-signing Coca Cola is reminiscent of a student campaign in 2005 that successfully convinced AU Auxiliary Services to sign Pura Vida as a coffee vendor on campus instead of Starbucks.
Then-President Benjamin Ladner decided to sign Pura Vida instead of Starbucks because of Pura Vida's assurance that it only uses fair trade coffee, The Eagle previously reported.
The choice represented AU's institutional values and another opportunity to translate those values into public responsibility, Ladner told The Eagle at the time.
"In my view, that responsibility presently aligns more closely with the business and social practices of Pura Vida," he said.
Kurt Karandy, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences and president of AU Against Coca Cola, said the group was working extensively to raise awareness on campus of the campaign against Coca Cola. Members of the group plan to hold a "mock funeral" Saturday on the main quad for the factory workers who were killed in Colombia. This mock funeral will include a role playing situation in which someone will pretend to be a clergy member who will eulogize the murdered factory workers, he said.
Other student groups on campus have joined with AU Against Coca Cola to get actively involved in the campaign. The group is working with the United Methodists Student Association and members of the Catholic Student Association, Karandy said.
The Community Action and Social Justice Coalition has worked on the campaign against Coca-Cola to find alternative vendors to replace the corporation when AU's contract with the company expires June 30.
Some students have proposed that AU should switch to Pepsi, according to Geoff Ramsey, one of CASJ's co-presidents. Pepsi has had its own human rights violations in the past; the corporation used to have a contract with a corrupt military group in Burma, he said. Pepsi ended this contract when many universities that used Pepsi as a vendor began to switch over to Coca-Cola.
Pepsi is likely to make a bid to be a vendor at AU, according to Auxiliary Services Director JoDe Norris. When AU's contract with Coca-Cola ends, Auxiliary Services will begin to look at bids from individual vendors. Criteria for selecting a vendor will come from a forum made up of students, faculty and staff, she said.
Human rights violations and a corporation's history will most certainly be an important factor in choosing a vendor, Norris said.
"We have to look at social responsibility and response to human rights violations before we make a final decision," she said.
Jen Lotze, a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs and CAS and a member of AU Against Coca Cola, said the university is morally and socially obligated to hold corporations responsible for human rights violations.
"It's a moral commitment, and as a campus that has a commitment to social justice, it's our responsibility to demand from our corporations some respect for human rights," she said.
You can reach this staff writer at news@theeagleonline.com.
Correction: In "Group fights Cola-Cola deal," The Eagle incorrectly reported Kurt Karandy is the president of the AU Against Coca-Cola. Karandy is leading the effort, but he does not have an official title. The mock-funeral scheduled for Colombian factory workers is scheduled for Friday, not Saturday as stated in the article. Other groups involved in the effort include the Unitarian Universalists, CASJ, the Interfaith Council and members of Chi Alpha.
