FRIDAY, JANUARY 27. 2006
NEWS
3A
ACTIVISM
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Universities boycott Coke
BY NICole KELLEY
nkelley@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Twelve universities have suspended contracts with the Coca-Cola Company after allegations surfaced about abuse to workers and the environment at the company's foreign plants.
A group at the university called Coalition to Cut the Contract with Coca-Cola claims the company was behind the deaths of eight union members in Colombia through its partnership with paramilitary forces. The Coalition also claims that in India, Coca-Cola depleted the groundwater supply, causing an increased number of pesticides found in the water and soil. Coca-Cola denied any of this happened.
Lindsey Rogers, University of
One of the schools leading the charge is the University of Michigan, which, after being contacted to take action by factory workers in Colombia, suspended its contract with the company.
Michigan sophomore and member of the Coalition to Cut the Contract with Coca-Cola, said, "Coke likes to say that they're not responsible for the action in their bottling camps, but somehow when paramilitary blockade the roads they find a way to get through."
The University of Kansas has a contract with Coca-Cola worth $15.7 million over a 10-year span. In the 2004-2005 school year, a total of 28,563 Coke products were sold in vending machines throughout campus.
SUSPENSION OF COCA-COLA CONTRACTS
Kerry Kerr, Coca-Cola spokeswoman, said the company plans to hire an impartial, independent third-party to access the situation in Colombia. Coca-Cola also wants to meet with the University of Michigan to address the boycott, she said.
Theresa Klinkenberg, chief financial officer of the University, said no specific concerns about the subject from students had been brought to her attention. She said she couldn't speculate about the action the University would take.
< The allegations brought against Coca-Cola have spurred 12 universities to join forces and suspend all sales of Coke products on their campuses.
Rutgers University
Sealem State College
UnionTheological
Seminary
University of Michigan
In the U.S.:
Bard College
Carleton College
Oberlin College
Macalester College
New York University
+ Abroad:
Abroad:
University of Guelph (Canada)
Trinity College, Ireland
University College, Ireland
"We are committed to work with all those schools so they have the facts and we can continue to have a partnership with them in the future." Kerr said.
"I don't think that's good enough," Rogers said. "There have been investigations in the past. The real issue is whether or not they are going to fix these problems."
Rogers said Coca-Cola sent the coalition a letter explaining what the company was going to do, but she wasn't satisfied.
Nolan T. Jones, Pittsburg junior and communications direc
Source: The Coca-Cola Company.
tor for KU Student Senate, said the allegations against CocaCola need to be fully investigated before any decision regarding the stance of the University can be made.
"At the end of the day, unless you're a Pepsi fan, I highly doubt most members of the student body want their Senate to jump up and lead a charge against Coke unless something substantial in terms of humanitarian issues was proven," Jones said.
— Edited by Jodi Ann Holopirek
ON CAMPUS
Tanya Golash-Boza, assistant professor of Sociology and American Studies, will hold a seminar entitled "Money Whitens? Why the Afro-Peruvian Case Defies Assumptions about Race in Latin America" at 3:30 p.m. today at the Hall Center.
ON THE RECORD
The Center for East Asian Studies will have a Lunar New Year Party today at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries. Learn to make dumplings from 2 to 4 p.m. Asian themed food, music, and games will be available from 4 to 7 p.m.
There will be a book signing for "From John Brown to Bob Dole: Movers and Shakers in Kansas History" at 4:30 p.m. today at the Dole Institute of Politics.
$ \textcircled{4} $ The KU piano division students will hold a concert entitled "Happy Birthday, Amadeus!" at 7:30 p.m. every night Jan. 27-29 at the Hall Center. Admission is free, but tickets are required.
A 20-year-old KU student reported his green, 12-speed Fuji RoadBike stolen between Saturday at 9:00 p.m., and Monday at 9:30 a.m.The theft occurred at 1321 Louisiana St. The bike is valued at $50.
♦ A 38-year-old KU employee reported graffiti damage between 5:00 p.m., Jan. 11 and 1:45 p.m., Jan. 23 at the parking garage in the 1000 block of Indiana. The damage is estimated at $500.
CORRECTION
◆ Thursday's The University Daily Kansan contained an error. In the article "Hawks slam past Aggies," Max Falkenstien's name was misspelled.
Wednesday's The University Daily Kansan contained an error. The photo caption for the article "Candidate stresses reforms" should have read, "Robin Jennison, GOP gubernatorial candidate, tells University of Kansas students that a decrease in taxes will improve the state's overall economy during a KU College Republicans meeting at the Kansas Union on Tuesday night."
STUDENT LIFE
Union ballroom shakes down in first Jayrock talent show
BY LISA TILSON
editor@kansan.com
KANSAN CORRESPONDENT
More than 300 student athletes filled the Kansas Union Ballroom last night to kick off the first ever "jayrock," an all-athlete talent show.
Jayrock featured performances from singing and dancing to "Saturday Night Live" style skits from eight KU athletic teams, including men's golf, volleyball, swimming and diving, men's and women's
track, baseball, rowing and soccer.
The idea for Jayrock was inspired by a similar event held annually at the University of Michigan. Even though Jayrock was much smaller than Michigan's show, the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, a board of representatives from KU athletic teams, has high hopes for its future.
"It will hopefully be a new tradition for KU athletics," said Tayler Eldridge, a Santa Cruz, Calif., senior on the rowing team who
serves on the advisory committee.
The event started at 6:30 p.m. with dinner and socializing and was highlighted by eight performances that ended at 8:30. Athletics Director Lew Perkins sat front and center to enjoy all of the comedy.
"All the athletes are always so busy with practices and competitions, this is a great forum for them to all be together to socialize, relax and really have fun," Perkins said.
- Edited by Frank Tankard
STATE
Bill could revoke immigrant tuition aid
Assigned to the Federal and State Affairs Committee, the proposal, HB-2615, was introduced Jan. 17 by Rep. Becky Hutchins (R-Holton). The legislation the bill is attempting to repeal, passed in 2004, grants in-state tuition to illegal immigrants who have attained at least three years at and graduated from a Kansas school.
A recently introduced proposal to repeal the illegal immigration/in-state tuition act is headed for a committee hearing next Wednesday.
The bill must go through
a number of steps before it makes it to the House floor, but if it does, Rep. Barbara Ballard (D-Lawrence), said she would vote against it.
"People think that the bill allows immigrants to go to school for free, but that's not the case," Ballard said of the original legislation. "These students have been in Kansas for most of their lives, so they're not truly immigrants."
Hutchins said she would have introduced the bill last year, but put it off when Kris Kobach filed a lawsuit against the state of Kansas on behalf of out-of-state students. He argued that they shouldn't have to pay more for tuition than illegal immigrants. The lawsuit
was eventually thrown out based on procedural grounds, but that ruling is under appeal.
Hutchins noted that a federal law enacted in 1996 prohibits illegal immigrants from receiving post-secondary benefits if U.S. citizens can't receive the same.
Rep. Richard Kelsey, (R-Goddard), a member of both the Higher Education and Federal and State Affairs Committees, views the move as political posturing.
"I'll be personally surprised if this goes through," Kelsey said. "I have to question what the motives are, but as a politician, I see what they're trying to do."
Fred A. Davis III
A