by Greg Burbidge and Nadine Coderre.
the Carillon

Corporate Campus

University is a haven for academics and intellectual types, n'est ce pas? It is also a feeding ground for corporations looking to catch some captive audiences.

Our Pepsi-free campus means that for the next four to five years, you will change your drinking habits to enjoy only Cokeıs wonderful products.

Most programs at the university are at least partially funded though corporate grants. Though this does not officially give them any say, it certainly affects how the campus is run.

If nothing else, it means that students have to avoid an exorbitant number of Coke machines in the halls.

ARAMARK

Aramark is the company that runs almost every food outlet on campus. The exceptions are Hendersonıs Cafe and The Golden Prarie Confectionary. Even the little coffee stop in the Ad-Hum building is run by the big corporate giant.

LITTLE KNOWN FACTS:

Up until the addition of the Studentsı Union building two years ago, Aramark had a monopoly on all the food services outlets on campus.

Aramark owns the food court as well as the Language Instituteıs Cafe de Lys. Whereas the food court workers have long been unionized, it was only a few years ago that a union was allowed into the Language Institute.

RIDDELL CENTRE

Amidst campus controversy, on September 13, 1999, the University Centre was renamed the Dr. William Riddell Centre. Riddell was the first president of the University of Regina, reigning from 1962 to 1969.

Dr. Dave Barnard, our current University President said that ³It is fitting to name this building after Dr. Riddell. He has made huge contributions to our university and the arts in Regina and the province.²

Not everyone shares this opinion and those who have a problem with honouring this man may have a good reason for their protests.

LITTLE KNOWN FACTS ABOUT DR. WILLIAM RIDDELL:

In 1969, Riddell tried to prevent the Carillon from printing an article that described Ross Thatcherıs provincial government as hypocritical.

When the article was run anyway, Riddell stopped collecting Studentsı Union fees, putting the Carillon (which was funded by the Studentsı Union) in financial jeopardy.

PIZZA HUT

Looking for a slice of pizza on campus? Thereıs always plenty of variety at the Lab Caf, but if youıre into brand names, the University is happy to oblige. The Riddell Centre food court is the home of one of the worldıs most recognized pizza chains ‹ Pizza Hut.

LITTLE KNOWN FACTS ABOUT PIZZA HUT / PEPSI:

When the University of Regina became a Coke campus, Pizza Hut was forced to quit serving Pepsiıs drink products. Contracts required Pizza Hut to serve Coke but Pepsi insisted that the fountain pop be served in generic-looking cups rather than ones bearing Cokeıs distinctive red and white trademark.

Since 1990, Burmese refugees have been advocating a boycott of PepsiCo (including Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC) to protest the companyıs association with the Burmese government. The group of boycotters accuse the government of ³devastating the worldıs last great teak forest, expanding the worldıs largest heroin trade, causing massive addiction and Œexplosive growthı of AIDS.²

SCHUMIATCHER

The theater used by the university for most major events is the Schumiatcher theatre in the Riddell Centre.

LITTLE KNOWN FACT:

This is the third Schumiatcher theatre in Regina. A portion of the Globe was named after the Schmiatcherıs thanks to their most recent donation.

The theatre in the MacKenzie art gallery is also a Schumiatcher theatre. To which Schumiatcher theatre are you going?

SO-CO

People who pass by the south side of campus have undoubtedly noticed the research park being built.

The park is being built by SOCO, the Saskatchewan Opportunities Corporation. The builders of the park ensured many new jobs within the university and the city of Regina.

LITTLE KNOWN FACTS:

Premier Roy Romanow said that the centre will ³create enviromentally friendly technologies that Saskatchewan that Saskatchewan companies can use here and abroad to extract more oil.² In doing so the SOCO company destroyed biology research plots to put up their new building.

SOCO made a $50,000 guarantee investment in a company solely devoted to the manufacturing of leather articles.

COCA-COLA

We are a Coke campus and have been since May 1, 1998. Thatıs when the University of Regina signed a deal with Coca-Cola Producers, giving them exclusive rights on campus.

This deal was widely criticized around the university for two reasons: Firstly, there is a small percentage of students who, as staunch Pepsi supporters, havenıt been able to grab a nice carbonated breakfast before their 8:30 classes?

The second reason has more to do with Cokeıs status as a multinational corporation. In signing this deal, the University of Regina has associated itself with what some call one of the most corrupt companies in the world.

LITTLE KNOWN FACTS:

In January of 1998, 525 Coke workers in New England walked off the job to protest the companyıs proposal to eliminate Veteranıs Day and Patriotıs Day as statutory holidays. Cokeıs vice president of public affairs, Bob Lanz, was quoted in the Boston Globe as saying ³Those holidays are important to us, but so are our customers.² Important as holidays and family time are to them, Coke apparently considers their customers (or is it their profits?) as more valuable.

Considering the companyıs difficulties with unions, it is no wonder that in 1994, two Coke officials used bribery in an attempt to prevent a union from forming in their Atlanta plant.

In 1979, Sister Dorothy Gartland tried to get Coke to agree to world-wide labour standards.

She revealed that a South African franchise was paying black prisoners $0.25 a day on work-release programs. As well, Mexicans in Laredo, Texas were being paid $2.40/hr and told that they were ³disposable².

In 1975, Guatemalan Coke employees formed unions and soon after, their leader Pedro Quevedo was shot twelve times while making a delivery. Union secretary, Manuel Lopez Balam had his throat slit while picking up empty Coke bottles at a local grocery store. Unionists believe that the company collaborated with an anti-communist army to arrange these deaths.

Coca-Cola is trying to convert 50,000 acres of the Belizean rainforest into an orange plantation to produce their Minute Maid orange juice.

An environmental group in Sao Paulo accused a Coke bottling plant of polluting the Tiete River. The same plant is now trying to build another one in the Serra do Japi environmental sanctuary.

A Coke plant in Florida is surrounded with barbed wire fences and monitored by video cameras and armed paramilitary guards.

Minute Maid (owned by Coke) deals with a Brazilian company, Sucocitrico Cutrale Ltd. which was accused of using child labour.

Clergy and Teamsters joined together to protest a Coca-Cola plant for supposed use of child labor. Coca-Cola firmly denied the child labor claims, but did not file charges in conjunction with the claims.