In 2007, President Carol Christ, upon the recommendation of the Soft Drink Advisory Committee, informed Coca-Cola Corporation that Smith would not permit the company to participate in its upcoming soft drink bidding process, which takes place every five years. The college will be entering this process again in 2012, and the College Council on Community Policy has been asked to review the 2007 decision to determine if enough demonstrated progress has been made to warrant inviting the company to participate. The documents in this section provide information about the 2007 decision, as well as updates on the 2012 deliberations.

Documents

2007 Report from the Soft Drink Advisory Committee (Microsoft Word document)

2007 Letter from President Christ to Coca-Cola North America (Microsoft Word document)

Statement on Coca Cola from the SSJIC (PDF)

The SSJIC Response to the March 9 CCCP Meeting (PDF)

Coke and Corporate Accountability, a Report from the SSJIC (PDF)

Workplace and Human Rights Overview from Coca-Cola (Microsoft Word document)

Proposed Timeline

• February 3, 2012: Bob Wheeler, other Coke representatives; discuss what strides have been made to address the initial concerns raised by Smith
• March 9, 2012: via conference call: Ray Rogers, Amit Srivastava, others to address the issues as they currently stand
• April 5, 2012: full committee discussion

Potential Resources/Speakers

• Ray Rogers, Killercoke.org
• A union leader from Columbia
• Amit Srivastava, Coordinator, India Resource Center
• Darcy Buerkle, knowledgeable of the issue and potential resources; organizations not related to Coca-Cola which can speak to the local economic impact Coca-Cola has in Columbia and India
• Bob Wheeler, Business Development Manager, Coca-Cola Refreshments
• Joanne Benkley, CEEDS; served on Smith Soft Drink Advisory Committee