With Coca-Cola’s exclusivity deal at Carleton set to end following the 2010-11 school-year, the Carleton Killer Coke group is stepping up its efforts to educate students about Coke’s alleged human rights abuses.

Coca-Cola has been accused of several human rights violations including child labour in El Salvador, local water supply depletion in India, and being involved in the murder and torture of Columbian union leaders — according to the documentary The Coca Cola Case, which was screened at Carleton Jan. 25.

Carleton Killer Coke founder and fourth-year human rights and linguistics student Katie Lloyd said since the screening of the documentary on campus, there has been a heightened interest from campus organizations such as Carleton Cinema Politica, as well as the Graduate Students’ Association.

The documentary alleges Coca-Cola’s involvement in the murder and torture of union leaders associated with SINATRAINAL, a union that represents a fraction of Coke’s workers in Columbia.

Another key player Carleton Killer Coke would like to get on board is the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA), which said it currently hold no official position on the issue, according to CUSA president Erik Halliwell.

Carleton’s initial contract with Coca-Cola ended in 2009, but since the university failed to meet a required sales quota, Coke products remain the exclusive beverages for sale on campus until 2011 — with Carleton receiving no further benefits.

Assistant vice-president (university services) Ed Kane confirmed Carleton’s extended contract with Coca-Cola, but said this is not unique to Carleton — that many Canadian universities with similar contracts with the company face this.

McMaster University and Queen’s University have faced mandatory two-year extensions of their contracts, since they also failed to meet sales requirements, according to reports from both McMaster’s student newspaper the Silhouette and Queen’s student newspaper the Journal respectively.

Since the documentary’s screening, approximately 600 people had expressed interest in the campaign, Lloyd said.

“We haven’t formally put out the petition again, but assuming we do, it seems that there’s greater support from the student body,” Lloyd said.

Realistically though, Lloyd said she doesn’t foresee a possible boycott of Coke until the exclusivity deal is up for renewal in 2011.

At this point Lloyd said the main goal is educating the students about the Killer Coke campaign, which includes a recently created Facebook group.

Obed Okyere, a candidate for CUSA vice-president (student issues), said in the end it’s something that the students should decide.

“It’s a very big issue. . . . We must educate students and call for a referendum,” he said.

Lloyd said the aim to rid the campus of Coke, or at least its exclusivity deal, has its consequences.

“Whatever the alternative is, there will be a downfall,” Lloyd said, “because they won’t be able to offer money to CUSA and the GSA.”

Currently some of the money Carleton receives from Coca-Cola for exclusivity is passed on to CUSA and GSA to use for student projects on campus, such as the recent renovation of CUSA-run Oliver’s Pub.

Potential “non-oppressive” alternatives to Coke, could be creating a contract with Cotts and Jones Soda, Lloyd said.

Access to free drinking water is also an issue on the Carleton campus, said Lloyd.

She said she thinks the university’s Coca-Cola contract specifically limits the creation and reparation of water fountains on campus.

But Kane said this claim is false.

“There is absolutely no mention nor reference to water fountains in our contract,” he said.

Otherwise, the university said there is a possibility of moving away from the Coke contract in the future, but has made no official plans.

 “We always keep an open mind when we are exploring our options regarding the future of such agreements,” said Kane.