I like soda. Now that I am no longer in my twenties, I drink a lot less soda, and more juice, but I still enjoy a cold sweetened beverage of any form. I have lived near no less than five different near universities, and thus have sampled all of those universities’ beverage systems in their various dining halls. I have developed a taste for the better ones. That is, I can tell if the mix is not right; if there is too much carbonated water and not enough syrup, for example. Also, I favor the juice machines, which sometimes have cool flavors like grape and lemonade, and are of much better quality than the usual fountain beverages.

That being said, I feel I must write that the new beverage system on campus is the worst I have ever come across. The situation was bad enough last year, but now they do not even have the juice machines anymore. I went to the SAC yesterday to get some food and there was almost nothing to drink. There is no more juice. I tasted the orange soda, but it tasted terrible and the mix was off. It did not taste right at all. I looked at the rest of the choices and they all either had caffeine or tasted gross, like Dr. Pepper. The only soda I wanted to get, Sierra Mist, which is the Pepsi version of Sprite, was out of order. Finally, I decided on the fruit punch, which seemed harmless and was actually not that bad.

This school made a very poor choice in selecting their new beverage contract. Although I have not viewed the evidence, I understand that Coca-Cola may be permitting human rights abuses. However, does that mean that we have to go with Pepsi? Are they the only other competitor? Their service is clearly awful, their drink selection is very limited and what they do have does not taste right. This school should have done a decent investigation instead of just going with ‘the other guy.’ If we have no choice but to suffer these beverages for the length of the school’s new contract, then campus dining should get an alternate choice of beverages from another vendor, so that the students can drink a decent beverage while on campus.