On Thursday, Feb. 22, over 120 students gathered in front of the Café at Harvey Mudd College in support of a rally to end the college’s relationship with the Starbucks corporation. The rally was part of an ongoing campaign by the 5C Student & Worker Alliance (CSWA) to address Starbucks’ “complicity in the Israeli occupation and genocide.” and its treatment of unionized employees.
This campaign follows similar campaigns at 25 universities across the nation, including UCLA, Georgetown University and the University of Chicago, all of which are being called upon to cancel their contracts with Starbucks.
Similarly to these universities, Mudd is a member of the “We Proudly Serve Starbucks Coffee Program,” which allows the college to provide a range of Starbucks beverages to students at a subsidized cost. Currently, these beverages are being served at the Café and at Jay’s Place, two popular food spots for students on campus.
In a petition released by CSWA, the authors demanded that Mudd leave this program and sever its ties with Starbucks. They also expressed the importance of treating dining services employees fairly throughout this process.
“We call for [Mudd], as well as all relevant parties, to immediately terminate the contract with Starbucks Corporation and invite an alternative coffee provider to replace Starbucks in both the Café and Jay’s Place,” the petition said. “In this transition process, we demand that no changes occur in the payment, staffing, benefits, or number of hours for the dining services employees working at the above-mentioned establishments.”
According to the petition, this call to action results from two major grievances with the Starbucks corporation: its “violations of federal labor law” and its “complicity in the Israeli occupation and genocide.”
In saying this, the petition highlighted several criticisms of the company that have become increasingly prominent over the past several years. Since 2021, the National Labor Relations Board has brought over 100 cases against Starbucks for various illegal actions. Many of these actions have involved the treatment of unionized employees, something that CSWA highlighted in their petition.
“In response to the organizing work of its employees during this time, where Starbucks workers won over 340 union elections across 41 states, Starbucks has denied boosts in wages and benefits to unionized workers, has threatened, surveilled, and fired its workers, and has closed union-affiliated stores,” the petition said.
The petition also called out Starbucks for its lawsuit against Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) last October after the group posted “Solidarity with Palestine!” on X, formerly known as Twitter. The authors explained that this lawsuit, which sued SBWU for trademark infringement, was conflating Palestinian solidarity with support of violence against Israel.
They criticized the lawsuit and suggested that Starbucks was using it as a tool to support the “Israeli occupation and genocide.”
“Through this attack on Starbucks unions, the company has also exposed its complicity in the Israeli occupation and genocide,” the petition said. “Starbucks’ acts of union-busting have now become a tool for their support of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.”
In the petition, CSWA used these criticisms to argue that Mudd’s relationship with Starbucks goes against the mission of the college, addressing Mudd President Harriet Nembhard directly.
“In the 100 Days of Community Connections report, you wrote that you wanted to build students’ citizenship and global awareness,” they wrote. “The implied goal is for students, and ultimately the college, to have a positive impact on our communities and society at large. In alignment with these values, we believe that continuing the relationship with Starbucks goes against the mission of Harvey Mudd College.”
According to Jordan James PO ’24, a coordinator of the campaign with CSWA, conversations about this campaign have been in progress since September 2023, but official execution only began in late January of this year. As a part of their campaign, CSWA held a teach-in on Feb. 11 and a rally on Feb. 22.
On the day of the rally, at 2:30 p.m., over 120 students gathered in front of the Café to listen to speeches in support of the campaign. Some students held signs reading “Drop Starbucks” while others chanted the message.
Protestors wore masks to protect their identities in accordance with the safety guidelines that were passed around during the rally. The guidelines also reminded students to avoid engaging with Campus Security and media and to protect brown, Black, Palestinian, SWANA (Southwest Asia and North Africa) and Muslim students from being photographed or identified.
A member of Pitzer College’s SWANA group then highlighted several examples of what they viewed as the repression of pro-Palestinian organizing on campus. They cited the recent policy changes at Scripps College’s Motley Coffeehouse and the Feb. 12 statement by Pitzer President Strom Thacker on the Haifa Senate Resolution as examples.
“But we refuse to be silenced,” the member said. “We refuse to allow these institutions to trample upon our right to protest our rights or voice our dissent.”
Following this, a student from Mudd made a speech urging other students at the college to step up and get involved in activism.
“Harvey Mudd students have been notoriously known to not be [politically] present on our campuses, but it’s not too late,” the student said. “You wield the power as students of this institution. Embrace that power, recognize the privilege and rewards and wield it in the service of justice.”
Another organizer then made a speech sharing the results of the Associated Students of Pomona College (ASPC) referendum hosted in February. The referendum focused on whether Pomona should divest from companies supporting the “apartheid system within the state of Israel.” The results highly favored divestment from these companies and increased disclosure regarding investments overall.
Following this, a member of Nobody Fails at Mudd (NFAM), Mudd’s mutual aid organization, made a speech explaining the intersection of mutual aid and labor organizing against large corporations.
“As a [Mudd] organization, we cannot support [Mudd’s] relationship with Starbucks,” the member said. “When [Mudd] uses Starbucks as a supplier, [they are] materially and symbolically supporting a corporation that violates worker rights and NFAM demands that [Mudd] cut ties with Starbucks.”
After 20 minutes of listening to the speeches, the group walked across from the Café to Kingston Hall to delegate their needs to Andrew Dorantes, the head of Business Affairs at Mudd, who also oversees the dining services. They then made a call to the Office of the Vice President to leave the same message.
Several days after the rally, CSWA was informed that both their actions on campus and the actions of others boycotting Starbucks worldwide had put significant pressure on the corporation.
On Tuesday, Feb. 27, Starbucks and SBWU announced that they would be negotiating with one another around issues surrounding unionization and litigation.
“[This campaign] is in retaliation to Starbucks’ labor malpractices,” James said. “They’re union busting and doing other grievances and this campaign forces them to come to the bargaining table with [SBWU] that they had refused to recognize.”
Although Starbucks has yet to make any further statement on its lawsuit against SBWU, James explained that CSWA — which is ultimately an organization centered around labor groups and union organizing — would no longer be participating in the campaign to end Mudd’s relationship with Starbucks.
“Starbucks couldn’t afford to union bust anymore, so they negotiated with the workers’ union,” James said. “Because of this campaign, in conjunction with other campaigns across the country, we no longer need to move forward with any steps to pressure Starbucks to come to the bargaining table or get them off campus.”
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