Students at Northland College in Ashland overwhelmingly voted to end the campus's contract with Coca-Cola. Students claim the soft-drink is anti-labor. Mike Simonson reports.

The vote was 364 to 62 last Friday to kick Coke out of Northland College. Student Justin Brewster lead the "Re-think Coke" campaign. He says Coca-Cola has been behind terror campaigns and murders of labor leaders in Columbia and misused water supplies in India. "Being that Northland has both an environmental mission and sustainability charter and that it strives to be the leading environmental liberal arts college in the United States, Coca-Cola doesn't have a place here based on what Coca-Cola's been doing." Brewster says they did contact Coke, which denied the allegations. Coca-Cola Spokeswoman Kari Bjorhus says she's not aware of any contacts from Northland College. She says her company is pro-union but the violence stems from guerilla warfare in Columbia. "We have signed collective bargaining agreements with all 12 unions we work with in Columbia. The other point I'd like to make is that wages for workers in our bottling plants are 2 to 3 times above the minimum wage." Northland College President Karen Halbersleben says she's proud of her students' activism, but says there is room for more information. "I really credit Coke's response to this now. They are willing to enter into direct dialogue with Northland College students to answer all the questions my students have about their business and environmental practices." Coke has also offered to fly some of the students to its headquarters in Atlanta to hear the company's side of things.

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