PepsiCo Board Ponders Burma

PepsiCo Inc. may reexamine its policy on investing in Burma as a result of pressure by human-rights activists on college campuses across the country.

The soda giant's decision comes after months of controversy over the fate of fountain drinks on campus after Harvard Dining Services (HDS) made an agreement and subsequently canceled a contract with PepsiCo.

PepsiCo, which owns Taco Bell and Pizza Hut as well as Pepsi-Cola, has been widely criticized for its investments in Burma, a military dictatorship with a questionable human rights record.

When HDS initially considered serving Pepsi instead of Coke in University dining halls and restaurants, student activists on the Undergraduate Council organized a protest movement arguing that students preferred Coke both for its taste and for its social responsibility.

Students active in the anti-Pepsi movement were yesterday elated by the company's move to reexamine its investments in Burma, which totaled $8 million in 1995, according to the Associated Press.

"We think it's awesome," said council member Tobias B. Kasper '97. "It's a real victory for a activist student government."

Kasper said Pepsi's possible capitulation on the Burma issue showed the importance of student protest.

"No one thinks these things actually have an effect," he said. "These companies are really amazingly sensitive to these things."

"It proves the effect that consumer pressure can have on multinational corporations," said Marco B. Simons '97, chair of the council's Student Affairs Committee and leader of the anti-Pepsi campaign on campus.

Simons saw in Pepsi's action a validation of the council's activist agenda.

"This shows that it's not useless for Harvard students to take a stand on some things and for Harvard student government to take a stand on some things," Simons said. "One of the things we were fighting was the attitude that we're just one school and what we do doesn't matter. There's a lot of symbolic importance to what Harvard does and what Harvard students do."

The campaign against Pepsi's Burmese investments is currently an issue on about 75 campuses nation-wide, including Stanford University, the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Syracuse University.

At Stanford, where the debate centered around a decision to open a Taco Bell on campus, the student government got its inspiration from Harvard.

"We actually downloaded the Har- vard resolution on Burma and presented it to our student government," said Nicholas Thompson, a leader of Students for Environmental Action at Stanford, which has spearheaded the anti-Pepsi movement at the Palo Alto, Calif. university.

A Pepsi reversal on Burma might be seen as a victory for campus activism, the council and, by extension, its current president, Robert M. Hyman '98-'97, who is running for reelection this week on an activist platform.

But while Simons gave Hyman credit for his work on the anti-Pepsi protest, he cautioned against overstressing the importance of Pepsi's action on the council election.

"One of the things that has been really missed in this whole election is that, while the president really sets the mood [of the council], what we do is dependent on who you elect," Simons said. "The president can't write all the legislation."

HDS officials also questioned the effect of a Pepsi reversal on University's current negotiations with Coke, saying the issue was more student preferences and service records than political positions.

"From my viewpoint, I've always considered that this whole issue started because Coke was not delivering the service that we needed," said Acting Director of HDS Leonard D. Condenzio. "We wanted to satisfy the students. More students want Coke, and we've always wanted to give them Coke."

Condenzio declined to comment further pending a formal announcement by Pepsi regarding the investment policy

A Pepsi reversal on Burma might be seen as a victory for campus activism, the council and, by extension, its current president, Robert M. Hyman '98-'97, who is running for reelection this week on an activist platform.

But while Simons gave Hyman credit for his work on the anti-Pepsi protest, he cautioned against overstressing the importance of Pepsi's action on the council election.

"One of the things that has been really missed in this whole election is that, while the president really sets the mood [of the council], what we do is dependent on who you elect," Simons said. "The president can't write all the legislation."

HDS officials also questioned the effect of a Pepsi reversal on University's current negotiations with Coke, saying the issue was more student preferences and service records than political positions.

"From my viewpoint, I've always considered that this whole issue started because Coke was not delivering the service that we needed," said Acting Director of HDS Leonard D. Condenzio. "We wanted to satisfy the students. More students want Coke, and we've always wanted to give them Coke."

Condenzio declined to comment further pending a formal announcement by Pepsi regarding the investment policy