In a victory for student activists, the University will temporarily suspend purchasing of Coca-Cola products. The decision, announced today, comes in response to the company's unwillingness to cooperate with a third-party review of alleged human rights violations in Asia and South America.

According to a set of deadlines established by the University, the Coca-Cola Company and the University were supposed to select an independent auditor together and reach an agreement on review protocol by Dec. 31. In a letter dated Dec. 16, Coke said it would miss that deadline, mostly because of legal complications.

The University responded today with a letter saying it would suspend the contracts because the company has not yet agreed to the protocols for a review of labor practices in Colombia and has not developed protocol for reviewing environmental concerns in India.

The letter goes on to say that if the situation is resolved, purchasing of Coke products will resume.

The suspension will begin Jan. 1. The University's total yearly expenditure on Coke products is $1.4 million. It holds 13 direct and indirect contracts with the company.

Most of those expired between June and November, but were extended through the end of the year. The University did not enter into any new contracts during that time because of the controversy. It will cease granting extensions beginning Jan. 1.

The Coalition to Cut the Contract with Coca-Cola, a group of student organizations that has led the effort to have the University cut its contracts with Coke, congratulated the University's decision in a written statement yesterday, but the group said it is concerned that the University still maintains Coke is acting in "good faith" despite its alleged environmental and human rights violations.

The statement condemns "the Coca-Cola Company's efforts to treat those violations as public relations issues, instead of taking the necessary steps to become a socially responsible corporation."

Future deadlines set by the University's Dispute Review Board include the completion of an audit on March 31 of next year; the University receiving the audit's findings on May 31; and the company instituting a plan to correct any negative findings by May 31.

The company had previously missed one deadline. By Sept. 30, 2005, Coca-Cola was supposed to have agreed in writing to a third-party audit. But the University did not take any immediate action, giving Coke a pass because Timothy Slottow, the University's chief financial officer, decided the company was acting in "good faith."

Coca-Cola products will not be completely eliminated from campus. Some third-party vendors such as restaurant franchises may continue to carry the products because they have agreements that require them to do so.

Campus vending machines that contain Coke products will either be stocked with alternate products or stay empty.