Coca-Cola Enterprises filed a police report Wednesday in an effort to stop vandalism of Coke machines by Macalester students and to catch the students responsible.

“We will cooperate with Macalester College and will prosecute those responsible to the fullest extent of the law,” said Kevin Morris, Coca-Cola Enterprises Vice President of Public Affairs.

Coca-Cola Enterprises is the bottler and distributor of The Coca-Cola Company’s products in the Twin Cities and is the largest such company in the world.

“I don’t want this plague to spread,” said Brian Harris, University of Minnesota Coca-Cola Enterprises Education Channel Manager. He also handles Coca-Cola Enterprises’ Macalester account.

Morris and Corporate Media Relations representatives said that, to their knowledge, the vandalism at Macalester is the only incident of illegal action taken against Coca-Cola Enterprises regarding the Colombia issue.

Prior to the filing of the police report, a source who said he was familiar with those committing at least some of the vandalism told the The Mac Weekly that the vandalism would continue into the near future. The source, who noted that the vandals are not associated with the students organizing a campus-wide Coke boycott, wished to remain anonymous.

Macalester students began taking political action against The Coca-Cola Company after former union organizer Luis Cardona, who works for the SINALTRAINAL union (the Colombian National Union of Food Workers), spoke at Macalester earlier this semester. Cardona claims that The Coca-Cola Company and its Colombian bottling partners practices illegal labor-suppressing behavior in Colombia and were involved in the murder of several union organizers.

Many U.S. labor unions, including the American Federation of Labor Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), support Cardona’s cause.

The Coca-Cola Company denies all of Cardona’s charges, stating in an official press release that “[SINALTRAINAL’s charges] are nothing more than a shameless effort to generate publicity using the name of our Company, its trademark and brands.” A U.S. District Court in Miami recently dismissed a series of lawsuits filed by SINALTRAINAL on the basis of lack of evidence.

After the visit by Cardona, a number of students organized a Coke boycott at Macalester. Macalester and Coke have a contract that gives Coke exclusive distribution rights on campus.

The vending machine vandalism is the Coke issue.

“Something needs to happen to lend a sense of urgency to the [Colombia] issue,” the source said. “A threat to property is an effective way of doing that.”

According to Director of Security Terry Gorman, the vandalism started Thursday night when unknown vandals cut the power cords. The coin slots had been jammed earlier in the week. As of Wednesday night, the most recent reports of vandalism occurred on Tuesday.

On Friday, Coca-Cola Enterprises sent out repair technicians, who fixed many of the machines. However, vandals have since recut the power cords and rejammed the coin slots of many of the fixed machines.

Coca-Cola Enterprises owns, operates and performs maintenance and repairs on all Coke vending machines on campus.

According to Doug Rosenberg, Macalester’s Director of Budget and Finance, Coca-Cola Enterprises pays the cost of the vandalism repairs.

Additionally, Gorman said that early Sunday morning, several vandals, whose affiliation with the original group could not be determined, smashed the glass face of a Coke vending machine in the Doty Lounge.

The source who said he was familiar with some of the vandalism acknowledged that some of the acts were partly spontaneous. However, the source confirmed that the acts were part of a larger abstract plan.

“Yes, I do think this is a plan,” the source said. “It’s part of a desire of trying to create the college campus we want.”

Most official organizers of the campus Coke boycott vehemently deny any involvement with the Coke machine vandals. A group of the initiators of the boycott sent a letter to The Mac Weekly (which can be found on page 5 of this week’s issue) publicly declaring their disapproval of the vandals’ actions.

The source familiar with the group that committed vandalism confirmed the separation between it and the boycott organizers.

“We share the same beliefs as the people planning the Coke boycott,” the source said. “But there are a lot of different ways to push change.”

Many members of the Macalester community reacted to the vandalism with annoyance, disapproval or anger.

“Many people don’t agree with property destruction, so they’re alienating the audience they’re trying to reach,” Graham Turner ’07 said.

“It’s very clear from all the students and colleagues that I have talked to that there is real student disdain for this type of behavior,” said Sarah Griesse, Associate Dean of Students and Director of Residential Life. “Macalester students are more interested in expressing themselves verbally and debating rather than striking out as vandals.”

“I believe that the best way we can go about working with people is to teach them the facts and let them make informed decisions,” Erin Miller ’05 said. “I’m not for violent protests. I am not for destruction. I am for education.”

Christina Danico ’04 added “What gives them the power to take away other peoples’ right to make their own choices? People shouldn’t be forced to protest anything.”

The source familiar with the vandalizing group disagreed with Danico.

“Macalester has already taken away your right to choose,” the source said, referring to Coke’s exclusive distribution rights on campus. “Macalester should not be in the position of creating a target market just for Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola is in the process of destroying the environment and killing unionists. I don’t think they have the entitlement to put machines up in my campus.”

Some students approved of the vandals actions. “The vandalism took place as a way of preventing Coke from making a profit on Campus before a larger movement can take place,” Luce Guillen-Givins ’06 said. “Direct action is a very important part of any movement.”