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BY MELISSA BERTOSH

In print | January 26, 2006

With the recent refusals to renew contracts with Coca-Cola at NYU and University of Michigan, Swarthmore students involved in the international campaign to Kick Coke are rallying behind the cause for the spring semester.

The group, led by Sarah Roberts ‘08, Anna Kastner ’08, Zoe Bridges-Curry ’09 and Ruth Schultz ’09, is currently making more in-depth decisions about this semester’s plans. Organizers are considering posting informational fliers across campus, planning a Paces party and possibly inviting union leaders from Colombia to speak on the matter.

“The concept is to raise awareness, make a difference and expose the facts, but we also want students to have fun while doing so,” Schultz said. The first Coke-Free Friday of the semester will take place tomorrow. Sign-up sheets should be available for students interested in taking part in the action.

Students working on the campaign have spent the past semester working with college administrators to respond to the 179 human rights violations of Coca-Cola’s workers, including nine murders of factory workers.

An investigative report released by the New York City Fact-Finding Delegation on Coca-Cola in Colombia revealed the company’s numerous crimes, such as the abduction and torture of union activists’ family members, the firing of union members who had attended union meetings and the company’s pressuring of workers to resign their union membership and contractual rights.

The report also detailed the occurrence of paramilitary violence against workers, potentially encouraged by factory managers. In addition to the Colombian offenses, there have been many environmental violations at bottling factories in India.

“Swarthmore prides itself in ethical intelligence,” Kastner said. “In addition to the obvious, our campaign deals with the monitoring of college purchases and insuring our tuition money is spent in an ethical way.”

After bringing the issue to the attention of administration, Sarah Roberts ’08 and Zoe Bridges-Curry ’09 said they expressed significant concern through the letter that was recently sent to the Coca-Cola Company on behalf of the college.

Stuart Hain, Associate Vice President of Facilities, described the letter as a warning to Coca-Cola of the college’s awareness of actions in Colombia and India.

“We requested the company continue to investigate the events, as well as warned of our intentions to pursue alternate courses of action at the end of our contract if changes were not made,” Hain said.

The college’s contract is set to expire in 2007. Despite the progress made thus far, Hain emphasized that Swarthmore has yet to reach their goal or achieve what other universities have.

Compared to the operations of Kick Coke campaigns at larger schools such as NYU and the University of Michigan, Swarthmore students believe things are proceeding very smoothly due to an understanding administration.

In a general response to the National Association of College and University Food Services, Coca-Cola assured their commitment to worker’s rights and provided answers to frequently asked questions by members. In Colombia, the company claims to be “exploring other ways to conduct a credible, objective, and impartial independent third-party assessment … without incurring legal risks.”

Also, Coca-Cola claimed allegations that bottling management has had a role in the violence against union leaders are false.

Additionally, Coca-Cola addressed the concerns in India regarding the amount of groundwater being used to produce beverages, the disposal of solid waste and the product quality being sold. They cited an independent study by the high Court of Kerala, which found that “under normal rainfall conditions, the Coca-Cola bottling facility would not adversely affect ground water levels.” It was determined that the primary cause of the water shortage in the Kerala area was due to reduced rainfall for several years.

The company has also discontinued the distribution of biosolids to any area farmers and is working with industry associations to encourage the development of additional solid waste disposal sites.

In response to charges that pesticide residues contaminated beverages sold in India, the company emphasized their constant concern with the quality of their ingredients and products as well as the efforts they are taking to strengthen these procedures.

As of the present time, Coca-Cola has not yet responded directly to the letter sent by Swarthmore College.

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