Alright, some still hold this romantic ideal of institutions of higher learning, that they are these utopian places of knowledge and learning. But, well, as the word institution suggests, universities are these political monstrosities shaped by power, money, and privilege. Yep, corporate sponsorship does more to shape a college than some idealized concept of wisdom.

On my campus, I've seen this play out in my beverage choices. See, I've always been a Diet Coke girl. Well, except for after I read all those articles about the evils of diet sodas; then I was a Cherry Coke girl. But, alas, my school is a Pepsi campus. Yep, Pepsi paid the university a big corporate sponsorship so that they could have a beverage monopoly . . . and so that they could charge students higher prices for those beverages. Because if there's no competition, you don't need to worry competitive pricing. Yay monopolies.

Anyway, I was on campus working today, and on my lunch break I made the arduous trek over to the other side of campus to change my health insurance enrollment (ooh, another rant for another time). As I was walking back to my building, in the uncharacteristically humid Arizona heat, all I could think about was getting a drink. I wanted a icy cold Cola-Cola product. But every vending machine on campus, I knew, was stocked with Pepsi. I thought about making a detour to visit the one convenience store on campus that actually sells Coke, but it was too damn hot to add extra steps to my journey. I resigned to visiting the little hut full of vending machines over by the Education building.

But as I drew close, I saw it. Was it a mirage? Was I really seeing the ubiquitous (well, ubiquitous everywhere but on my campus) Coca-Cola wave? Could it be true?

I got up next to the brand-spanking new vending machine, so new it still wasn't even pushed all the way back to the wall. Coca-Cola!

The finale of the 1812 Overture ran through my head--it was the music of triumph. I guess Pepsi lost the contract to Coke.

I dumped my $1.25 into the machine and the fancy arm raised up and grabbed a bottle for me and then lowered it down for me to retrieve. Yee haw!

So, is my school still a pawn of corporate America? Um, yeah. But as long as I'm getting the product I want, I'm not caring so much any more. I'm totally a sheep.