If you ate in the cafeteria during the first couple of weeks during October, you might have noticed a table set up with students conducting polls. A few staff members of the Right World View asked students to fill out a short poll asking three things: what they wanted to see served on campus (Coke only, Pepsi only, both, neither or don’t care), if they signed the Killer-Coke petition last year (For those unfamiliar with the Killer-Coke campaign, in the past several years it has gained publicity. Its constituents believe the Coca-Cola company ignored the deaths of several employees and the threats, imprisonments and human rights violations of many more in Columbia. If you’d like to learn more, visit www.killercoke.org.) and, if they did, the reason why (belief in the Killer-Coke petition, to avoid being lectured, lapse of judgment, for a friend or no idea). Two students wrote additional reasons why they signed the petition. One wrote “Because Coke [stinks]” and another wrote “The Killer-Coke Campaign sounded possible”.
The poll, filled out by one hundred and fifty students, produced interesting results. Twenty-five people (16.7%) wanted Coke only. Two of those people signed the petition, both to avoid being lectured. Thirty-three (22%) people wanted Pepsi only. Of those 33, ten signed the petition, nine because they believed in the Killer-Coke Campaign and one who stated “Because Coke [stinks]“. Fifty-four (36%) of students polled answered they’d like to see both Pepsi and Coke served at Manhattanville. Ten signed the petition; four to avoid being lectured, one who had a lapse of judgment, three for a friend, one had no idea why and one who thought the Killer-Coke petition sounded possible. Thirteen (8.7%) people didn’t want to see soda offered on campus at all; a few wrote “Soda is bad for you, drink water”. Of those 13, five signed the petition, three who believed in the Campaign and two to avoid being lectured. Twenty-five (16.7%) people didn’t care which soda was offered on campus. Three of those 25 signed the petition, two who believed in the Campaign and one who had no idea why he signed it.
When told of the results of the poll and how one-third who filled it out wanted to see both Coke and Pepsi on campus, President Berman stated, “At Manhattanville, we try to do what they students want. When they said they wanted the library open twenty-four hours, we did that. This isn’t as easy.”
It should be noted that the people targeted in the poll were the people who ate in the cafeteria, and this does not necessarily represent the opinion of the entire Manhattanville community.
