The Iowa State administration has decided against a massive, 10-year, $2 million exclusive-rights contract.

In doing this, they have made the correct decision.

Instead of using university resources to do the job, an outside consultant was hired to determine the amount of money the university would receive as a result of this deal.

After the consultant found that the contract would yield only $2 million, instead of the $4 million as previously thought, the administration backed out.

While the contract would have provided our cut-ridden university with an extra $2 million, we have never been told where this money would have gone.

Coke also had an extensive and outrageous list of demands that would have commercialized our respected land-grant university beyond belief.

In addition to having all of the university’s paper or plastic cups bearing the Coke logo along with the scoreboards and chairbacks at athletic venues, Coke’s initial offer was laden with unethical services to execs.

Over $750,000 in perks would have gone to Coke employees.

From skybox seats at Jack Trice to golf outings at Veenker Memorial Golf Course to seats at basketball games, corporate execs would have received enough perks to make alumni jealous.

The university administration, for now, has avoided the further selling out of Iowa State.

Outrageous perks and the over-commercialization of our campus wasn’t worth the money. We are a public university with a long-standing land-grant tradition. This is Iowa State University, not Coca-Cola University.

editorialboard: Michelle Kann, Tim Paluch, Jocelyn Marcus, Zach Calef, Ruth Spangler, Cavan Reagan