Coke's in, Pepsi's out at Cal State Long Beach // EDUCATION: Coke is paying $1.2 million to be "it" at the college. Some students mourn the passing of Pepsi.

DATE                  03/22/94
NEWSPAPER             THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
SECTION               NEWS
EDITION               MORNING
PAGE                  a01
STORY LENGTH          16 INCHES
HEADLINE              Coke's in, Pepsi's out at Cal State Long Beach // 
                         EDUCATION: Coke is paying $1.2 million to be "it" at 
                         the college. Some  students mourn the passing of 
                         Pepsi.
BYLINE/CREDIT          DAN FROOMKIN:The Orange County Register
SUBJECT TERMS         LA:COLLEGES:CHANGE:STUDENTS:GIFTS:ADVERTISING:FINANCE:CON
                         TRACTS

     Call it the lack of choice of a new generation.
     At Cal State Long Beach, it really is "always Coca-Cola" now
  that administrators are giving Coke exclusive access to the campus
  through 2006 in return for $1.2 million in donations.
     In the latest flare-up in the cola wars, Coke and Pepsi are
  stalking the nation's universities with fistfuls of cash, seeking
  prestige and competitive advantage by locking campuses into
  long-term contracts that shut out their rivals.
     Oregon State recently signed on with Coke for $2.3 million. Penn
  State signed a $14 million contract with Pepsi. Indiana University
  hosted a bidding war and ended up with $15 million from Coke. The
  list goes on.
     At California State University, Long Beach, with 27,000
  students, Coke is planning to contribute $150,000 a year for eight
  years to the university's unfinished $16 million Pyramid Events
  Center.
     Administrators hungry for money in these lean budget times
  welcome such deals. But some students are fizzibly upset.
     "I definitely prefer Pepsi over Coke," senior Yvonne Hermosillo,
  23, said as she took a hard look at the soft-drink selection at the
  university convenience store. "Now I just drink Snapple."
     Virtually every sign of Pepsi has vanished from the campus as
  surely as the 50 Pepsi vending machines that were carted away a few
  weeks ago.
     "It's somewhat distressing," said senior Theresa Steen, 31, as
  she sipped morosely on a Diet Coke. "I wish I had a Diet Pepsi."
     There's even been talk of an anti-Coke boycott, said
  student-government senator Danielle Sims, 22, who is chiefly
  concerned about the fate of athletic teams that will be forced to
  give up their Pepsi sponsorships.
     "We discussed a boycott, if we were mad enough," Sims said. "But
  it doesn't seem anyone's mad enough."
     In return for its contribution, Coke initially asked for the
  expulsion of not only Pepsi but any drink competing with its
  product line. But school administrators said they could only be
  pushed so far.
     "We are going to carry Snapple," said Gary Adams, director of
  the Forty-Niner Shops.
     Pepsi is one thing, students say. Taking away Snapple would be
  "going way too far," said Terry Otis, 19.
     Still, some students just hate the fact that the university
  bargained away one of their soft-drink choices without their say-so.
     "I'd like to have a choice," said junior Milo Aukerman, 21. "I
  prefer Coke, but sometimes I get a wild hair and want something
  different."
     "It's not much of a choice," said sophomore Jennifer Cummings,
  20. "But I'd probably rather have Pepsi."