Tuesday, October 21, 2008
The University is in the final stages of negotiating the renewal of its contract with the Coca-Cola Company. The previous 10-year contract expired June 30, 2007, and the University has been in negotiations with Coca-Cola since then.
Theresa Gordzica, chief financial officer of Business and Financial Planning at the University, said there were no major issues causing the delay, but finalizing the language regarding marketing, logo and licensing issues took some time. She said she expected the contract to be finalized in the next couple of weeks after the final details were worked out.
“It’s just a more technical world than it was 10 years ago when we signed the last agreement,” Gordzica said. “It’s taken a while to get the i’s dotted and the t’s crossed.”
Gordzica said although the University received proposals from Pepsi and Coca-Cola, it decided to renegotiate its contract with Coca-Cola because of its relationship over the past 10 years. She said the most compelling reason the University chose Coca-Cola was because it worked with the company for so long and because it submitted a strong proposal for a new contract.
Gordzica said the previous contract generated about $5 million over its 10-year span that was allocated to National Merit scholarships, scholarships for dependents of University employees, program funding and Coca-Cola products for University and student group events. She said National Merit scholarships received about $200,000 per year, the employee dependent scholarships received about $150,000 per year and student programming received about $500,000 per year.
Gordzica said entities such as the Athletics Department and the Memorial Unions, which received profits from the previous contract, did not experience an interruption in funding or products while the University was negotiating the new contract. She said that student groups could apply for programming funds or products through the vice provost for Student Success Office. She said she she did not know how many groups had received funding this year.
The University received a payment from Coca-Cola in the final year of the contract, which gave it sufficient funds to continue scholarships and program funding in the period between contracts.
David Mucci, director of KU Memorial Unions, manages the events and programs in the Unions. He said the previous contract brought revenue to the Memorial Unions and it was maintained even after the contract expired. He said he was glad the University continued funding the various programs and scholarships affected by the previous contract.
The employee dependent scholarships are awarded to students whose parents are University faculty or staff. Gordzica said the amount and size of the scholarships awarded varied depending on the number of applicants.
Julia Barnard, Lawrence freshman, received a Coca-Cola scholarship because both of her parents are University faculty. She is still receiving the scholarship even though the contract has not been finalized. Her father, Philip Barnard, is an associate professor in the English department, and her mother, Cheryl Lester, is the director of the American Studies program. Barnard said the scholarship prevented her family from having to take out a loan to pay for school.
— — Edited by Lauren Keith
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