Undergraduates at UCLA Won't Drink to Apartheid

The soft drink battle is heating up in sunny California, and the UCLA student store is in the middle of the fire. But the fight is not over new or old Coke, or even between Coke and Pepsi. It is, strangely enough, about apartheid.

Students will soon be asked to decide what is more important to them--the taste of the Real Thing, or the fight against apartheid.

Because of campus-wide controversy over Coca-Cola's business ties to South Africa, the Board of Control of UCLA's student store (ASUCLA) has launched a poll to determine whether students want them to keep serving Coke in their restuarants, or not.

Jason C. Reed, executive director of the ASUCLA, said that they would be collecting feedback until "February or March", when the Board will hand down its decision. Mcanwhile, an educational campaign to help students make up their minds was planned, with a week of campus forums offered by ASUCLA, the Coca-Cola Company and faculty and students in November.

The ASUCLA is one of the largest student stores in the country (second only to the Harvard Coop), selling everything from textbooks to groceries to UCLA insignia wear and providing services such as a travel agency, a restaurant, and a bowling alley.