Queen’s University Against Killer Coke (QUAKC) recently received a $2,000 grant from the Cold Beverage Exclusivity Fund (CBEF). The CBEF monies are provided by Coca-Cola as a condition of its on-campus exclusivity agreement, but a group of University faculty and students decides who receives these grants.
QUAKC’s decision to use the money provided by the Coca-Cola grant to fund its campaign to terminate the University’s contract with Coca-Cola may be a clever twist, but it also seems hypocritical. The group defends their use of this money by saying they need it for their “Killer Coke” campaign. This is the argument the University uses for agreeing to the contract with the company: they needed the money. This grant, however, is not QUAKC’s only fundraising option.
The Coca-Cola contract is indicative of a growing trend in post-secondary institutional funding. More and more, everything from sports complexes to art centres are being constructed using corporate money.
Despite the trend, corporate sponsorship is not inevitable when it comes to post-secondary funding, nor should the University uncritically accept private funding. In the current climate of post-secondary funding, external funding is an appealing option since governments have cut back on their contributions to post-secondary institutions, but it is important to keep lobbying for increased government funding. Thus far, Queen’s has run a successful alumni fundraising campaign. Continuing such initiatives in the future could prevent campus corporatization. It has also recently been announced that Starbucks will have a brewing station in the Mackintosh-Corry cafeteria. Although the coffee will be fair trade, the introduction of Starbucks is a testament to the brand power mentality; it clearly wasn’t so much the quality of the coffee that was the basis for the decision, as there are many better choices, but the brand recognition, which will translate into bigger on-campus coffee sales.
The introduction of Starbucks and QUAKC’s ongoing battle against the University’s Coca-Cola contract point to the need for a set of guidelines to regulate the corporate presence on campus and protect the views and interests of students, who remain one of the University’s largest and most stable sources of funding.
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s)-in-Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.