RESOLUTION REGARDING MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY'S CONTRACT WITH COCA-COLA

RESOLUTION REGARDING MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY'S CONTRACT WITH THE COCA-COLA COMPANY AND FURTHER CONCERNING ALLEGATIONS LEVELED AGAINST THE COCA-COLA COMPANY

February 7, 2006

WHEREAS a fact-finding delegation of labor, educator, and student representatives led by New York City Council member Hiram Monserrate concluded, based on a 10-day trip to Colombia, that "there have been a total of 179 major human rights violations of Coca-Cola's workers,including nine murders," more troubling were the "persistent allegations that paramilitary violence against workers was done with the knowledge of and likely under the direction of company managers," and that Coca-Cola Company's "inaction and its ongoing refusal to take any responsibility for the human rights crisis faced by its workforce in Colombia demonstrates, at best, disregard for the lives of its workers," and its "complicity is deepened by its repeated pattern of bringing criminal charges against union activists who have spoken out about the company's collusion with paramilitaries," and

WHEREAS there has been a growing outcry by Indians against Coca-Cola Company's business practices in India due to its overusing and polluting of the common groundwater, giving toxic sludge to farmers as fertilizer, and selling contaminated soda to the citizenry, leaving Indians at risk of dehydration, starvation, and poisoning, and

WHEREAS the Coca-Cola Company has repeatedly refused to contribute to any independent investigation of the aforementioned allegations, and

WHEREAS the United Steel Workers Association and the International Labor Rights Fund has filed suit against Coca-Cola Company on behalf of SINALTRAINAL, furthermore numerous union organizations in Colombia, India, and throughout the world are urging all socially conscience consumers to boycott Coca-Cola products, and

WHEREAS the University of Michigan, Rutgers University, New York University, in addition to nearly 20 other universities have banned the sale of Coca-Cola products on their campuses while copious other universities are looking into the issue, and

WHEREAS given that Michigan State University is a land-grant institution committed to local and global good, renewing Michigan State University's contract with Coca-Cola Company would serve to validate Coca-Cola Company's record of human rights violations, anti-competitive practices, and environmental irresponsibility,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT McDonel Hall Government calls on Michigan State University to adopt a "Vendor Code of Conduct," specifying the acceptable behavior of our vendors and clearly asserting Michigan State University's reaction to violations of said code, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT McDonel Hall Government hereby calls on the various leadership of Michigan State University to review the vast quantity of documents regarding Coca-Cola Company's alleged misconduct and irresponsibility in Columbia, India, as well as other countries and demand that the Coca-Cola Company address and redress these matters, and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED THAT if the Coca-Cola Company does not address and redress these matters, McDonel Hall Government calls on Michigan State University to desist from renewing their contract with the Coca-Cola Company.

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