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Michigan University Suspends Ties with Coke
 
January 1, 2006
Newindpress.com

NEW YORK: In a major blow to Coca-Cola, a prestigious US university has suspended its business relationships with the soft-drink giant for violation of environmental practices in India and Colombia.

The decision of the Michigan University has been welcomed by the green brigade, which had launched a tirade against Coca-Cola in the recent past. In a letter dated December 29, 2005, the university said the soft-drink giant had failed to agree to a protocol for an investigation into serious environmental violation issues in India and Colombia.

The university has now decided to “temporarily suspend the University’s purchasing of Coca-Cola products beginning January 1, 2006,” the letter said. The university letter, a copy of which was made available to this website's newspaper , was jointly signed by Peggy Norgren, Associate Vice President for Finance and Timothy P. Slottow, Executive Vice President and CFO of the Michigan University.

With this Michigan University has become the third American university after Rutgers University and New York University to suspend its business ties with Coca-Cola for almost similar reasons. The university would resume procurement of Coca-Cola products, the letter said, only if the company agrees on the process of a third-party review of environmental concerns in India and Colombia.

The University letter reminded Coca-Cola had agreed in principle to such verification by December 31, but it has not been able to keep up its promise.

“We welcome the move by the University of Michigan to cease doing business with a company that engages in flagrant human rights and environmental violations. This will send strong message to Coca-Cola that it must clean up its act,” said Amit Srivastava of India Resource Centre, an international campaigning organisation, which worked closely with student organisations at the University of Michigan to make the case against Coca-Cola.

“The campaign to hold Coca-Cola accountable is far from over, and we will continue to fight to ensure that the University of Michigan administration is moving in the right direction, and putting Coca-Cola on notice that this suspension can lead to expulsion if they fail to act in good faith,” said Clara Hardie, a key student leader at the University of Michigan.

In response to student concerns over Coca-Cola’s alleged abuses in India and Colombia, University of Michigan earlier had convened Dispute Review Board, an advisory body comprising of students, faculty and administrators to look into the issues in India and Colombia.

After deliberating for about 10 months, the board recommended in June 2005 that Coca-Cola be placed on probation. It also laid out a series of benchmarks the company would have to meet in order to show it was acting in good faith to solve the problems in India and Colombia, including agreeing to an independent, third party investigation.

The soft-drink giant is the target of numerous community-led campaigns in India, accusing the company of creating severe water shortages and pollution. One of Coca-Cola’s largest bottling plants in India remains shut down since March 2004 in Plachimada because local community refuses to allow it to operate, citing plant for creating water shortages and pollution in the area, leading to hardship for the community.

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