No Sweat! protests against Coke

After six years of marching, chalking and petitioning, members of No Sweat! are optimistic about their campaign to kick Coca-Cola off campus.\nNo Sweat! is the IU chapter of United Students Against Sweatshops, a student group working to combat sweatshops and corporate globalization at a local level.\nIn the group’s most recent campaign, members are protesting the University’s contract with Coca-Cola in response to allegations that the company has been using torture, murder and kidnapping to intimidate their workers at a bottling plant in Columbia, said junior Cole Wehrle, a No Sweat! member. Group members said they believe if the school discontinues its contract, it can send a powerful message to the company.\n“Our ultimate goal is to get Coke to reform,” Wehrle said. “We’re not anti-Coke, we’re just trying to get them to police their actions.”\nThe University has had an exclusive contract with Coca-Cola since July 1994. However, in June 2009, the contract will be up for renewal, said Jonathan Lore, assistant director of purchasing. \nOf the 209 campuses around the country with active anti-Coca-Cola campaigns, 46 have terminated or decided not to renew their contracts with the company. Wehrle said he hopes IU will soon join the list.\nWehrle described the situation as “the perfect storm.” He said the national trend will be one of the arguments the group uses when discussing the issue with IU President Michael McRobbie and \nhis advisers.\n“Last year, I was not that optimistic,” Wehrle said. “Now it’s less of fighting to fight the good fight just to do it and thinking that it’s something we could feasibly do.”\nNo Sweat! has also brought the issue to the Anti-Sweatshop Advisory Committee, a committee comprised of faculty and staff working to ensure IU’s licensing code of conduct is enforced. \nDean of Students and chair of the Anti-Sweatshop Advisory Committee Dick McKaig said because of the allegations against Coca-Cola, the committee has looked into the information and talked with representatives from the purchasing department. However, the decision to not renew the contract would be based on a recommendation from the IU president and board of trustees.\nIn addition to working through the campus bureaucracy, No Sweat! has been raising student awareness, Wehrle said.\n“Just being a student makes you involved,” Wehrle said. “You’re paying tuition, which is going to buying Coke. Every dollar is a vote. It’s our job as consumers to guide the industry.”\nWhile the group has staged marches and boycotts in the past, this year they have focused on petitions, Wehrle said. \n“People have been attached to Coke, so the petitions have sparked huge conversations,” Wehrle said. “It’s amazing to see their eyes open. It’s challenging a tenant of American culture. It’s like trying to get Campbell’s soup kicked off campus.”