Hofstra Faculty Resolution to End Coke Monopoly

WHEREAS paramilitary death squads have threatened, kidnapped, tortured, and murdered union workers at Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia;

WHEREAS, a fact-finding delegation of labor, educator and student representatives led by New York City Council member Hiram Monserrate concluded that the Coca-Cola corporation's "complicity in the situation is deepened by its repeated pattern of bringing criminal charges against union activists who have spoken out about the company's collusion with the paramilitaries" (NYC Fact-Finding Delegation's Report on Human Rights Violations by Coke * Final Report dated April 2004; p1);

WHEREAS Coca-Cola uses sugar harvested by children in El Salvador who, in the process of harvesting, suffer from smoke inhalation, burns, and cuts from machetes yet not provided with health care;

WHEREAS Indian courts have ruled that the Coca Cola Corporation cease its practices of distributing toxic waste as fertilizer, using water from depleted aquifers, and selling soft drinks with high pesticide levels without warning;

WHEREAS the Coca-Cola Corporation currently holds an exclusive vending rights contract with Hofstra University that eliminates competition from other soft drink manufacturers while encouraging members of our campus community to subsidize human rights violations and environmental degradation by purchasing Coca-Cola products;

WHEREAS as educators at an institution of higher learning, Hofstra University faculty are deeply committed to actively protecting human rights and promoting environmental responsibility;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Faculty call upon the Administration not to renew Hofstra University's exclusive vending contract with the Coca-Cola corporation.