Like the Boston Tea Party of the 13 Colonies prior to the Revolutionary War, a Daily editorial published last week, which also appeared in The Des Moines Register, advises ISU students to throw the overpriced Coca-Cola products from campus vending machines into the sea — er, Lake LaVerne.

The authors are empathizing with students about the increased expenses we have to deal with, from tuition to meal plans, room and board and now the cost of 20-ounce beverages in campus vending machines. It’s gone from $1 to $1.25. The price increase is justified as keeping up with expenses. The authors suggest students boycott campus vending machines because it’s not fair.

Interesting proposal.

I was unaware of the real story behind “overpriced” vending machine fare and clever deals made between universities and major soft drink companies and how they affect our already stretched pocketbooks until I got the bubble on the fizzy arrangement.

According to an investigative news story from the campus newspaper of the University of Illinois, universities nationwide realized the financial potential of beverage deals after Pennsylvania State University signed the first exclusive contract in 1992.

Since then, beverage companies have competed for contracts with universities by promising higher returns on sales and providing large amounts of money up front in exchange for advertising and exclusivity on campus.

We have a contract with Coca-Cola, so they have had a monopoly unaffected by the same products elsewhere because students spend so much time on campus and are isolated from off-campus services during that time.

In our recent situation here at Iowa State, the university itself decided to raise the price of 20- ounce beverages — with Coca-Cola’s current contract, Iowa State receives 25 percent of the money taken from vending machines.

Jon Lewis, ISU Dining director, said in a previous Daily article that, for every 20-ounce beverage a student purchases at $1.25, 31.25 cents are returned to the university.

Now students have to make the choice between buying ridiculously expensive Coke products or settling for tap water.

Ohio State currently holds the nation’s largest exclusive beverage contract. Universities in Chicago and Nebraska have also taken advantage of exclusive contracts.

Could these contracts universities have anxiously made have anything to do with major state budget cuts?

That was the case for Northern Illinois University. Basically, the state legislature actually encouraged them to develop corporate partnerships because the state had nothing to give.

But aside from the money issue, there’s another reason why we should consider boycotting campus vending machines — soda just isn’t healthy. We drink too much of it.

The empty calories are making us fat, the caffeine is sucking calcium from our bones, and the excess sugar is destroying our teeth.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, soft drink consumption has increased 500 percent in the last 50 years.

Did you know that more than 15 billion gallons of soda were sold in the U.S. in 2000? This works out to more than 12 ounces per day for every man, woman and child.

Although nothing has been proven, evidence from several studies indicates a correlation between obesity and soft drink consumption. Tooth decay is one detrimental health effect of soda consumption which even the soft drink industry admits to. The active ingredient is most soda is phosphoric acid which has been proven to deplete bones of calcium.

Okay, so maybe boycotting campus vending machines is a little extreme. But consider bringing your own beverage to campus. Save your change.

If you absolutely have to have your caffeine fix, purchase soda from a grocery or retail store off campus where it’s much cheaper.

Whatever happened to the old-fashioned notion of drinking milk, water, vegetable or fruit juice?

We Americans have horrible diets and constantly gorge ourselves with fatty foods and carbonated drinks — and we wonder why we’re an overweight nation.

We’ve become less and less aware of what we put into our bodies and the effect it has. We take food and drink for granted because there’s an overabundance of it.

When you’re busy and on the go, it is challenging to eat and drink healthfully.

Think before you feed any vending machines around here. You could be cheating yourself out of much-needed money and nutrients.