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MONDAY, JULY 10, 2017 | VOLUME 134 ISSUE 06

THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904

Pepsi replaces Coke as campus drink provider @CHANDLER BOESE @Chandler_Boese

After two decades of being sponsored by Coca-Cola, the University decided this week to make Pepsi its official beverage company. Coca-Cola has had a partnership with the University since 1997, which entails selling Coke products on campus (in vending machines, KU Dining operations, etc.), free products for some events and activities, and funding for scholarships and programming. The original contract was renewed in 2007, but that expired last Saturday, July 1.

Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, the director of News and Media Relations for the University, told the Kansan via email Friday that the University had selected Pepsi as its official beverage provider. She could not give any more information. PepsiCo includes beverage brands like Pepsi, Gatorade, Mountain Dew and Naked juice. While the details of the partnership with the University are still being decided, other partnerships have included increased student scholarships, sustainability programs, career development opportunities and student programming.

For Kansas State, which is also a Pepsi school after renewing its contract in 2015, the deal means that Gatorade products are provided to their athletic programs. Pepsi has been the brunt of some controversy earlier this year for its ad depicting a protest being stopped by model Kendall Jenner offering police a Pepsi. Many critics called the ad “tone deaf,” and Pepsi pulled the ad with a public apology. The Kansan reached out to both Pepsi and Coke for comments on Friday and did not immediately receive a response.

Missy Minear/KANSAN The University will transition to Pepsi products after being sponsored by Coca-Cola for two decades.

New partnership could offer students free textbooks

File photo/KANSAN Students could be assigned free textbooks under a new campus partnership.

@CHANDLER BOESE @Chandler_Boese

When some students pull up their class lists next fall, they may be surprised to find that there’s a new option next to one of their required textbooks: “free PDF.” This cost-free PDF option is one of the benefits of the University’s new partnership with OpenStax, a program that creates professional-grade textbooks and then distributes them for free. Under the pro-

gram, the University will get to expand its efforts to offer affordable, and even free, books. “No one will wait for their loans to buy the book or not buy the book and take academic risks in doing that or take fewer courses if their textbook is free,” said Josh Bolick, a scholarly communications librarian who has spearheaded the effort. In order to get these open textbooks, faculty members will have to select one of the available texts

as a class’ required material, instead of a traditional commercial product. Faculty can get open educational resources, as they’re broadly known, from OpenStax and other venues like the Open Textbook Library. In order to encourage these choices, KU Libraries offers grants to faculty members who do choose to use open educational resources for their classes. “I never want someone to adopt something that they feel like is lesser quality, or going to be less effective,”

Bolick said. “But if they look at an open textbook and they say, ‘Oh, this is good, I can imagine adopting this,’ then we want to incentivize that activity.” Most of the current OERs focus on classes and subjects with the highest potential for large enrollment, Bolick said, like core, introductory or high-interest courses. For those students whose instructors decide to assign an open textbook, SEE TEXTBOOKS PAGE 2


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