NYU’s Coke Problem
Undergrad politicos just say no.
Some call it killer coke. Just look at the headlines in the student paper: DOES COKE KILL? and STUDENT GOV’T PASSES COKE BAN. Yes, the problem originates in Colombia. Students outraged over the murders of union organizers at Coca-Cola bottling plants there want the beverage-maker banned from campus. (Such a ban must now pass the university senate.) Already the Killer Coke Campaign has gotten Coke products banned at Bard, hoping that enough college bans will pressure Coke into investigating the Colombia situation. But a Coke rep at the student-government meeting said that two investigations cleared it of wrongdoing. And now another group—Students for Coke—has come to its defense. “It’s not that we love Coke over Pepsi,” says senior Mark Sternberg, who drinks Sprite (a Coke product). “We just want Coke to be treated fairly.”
—Kate Pickert