On Boycotts

So I've been thinking about boycotts a lot this week, particularly in light of the concerns with the upcoming Beijing Olympics. To briefly summarize that situation, here is a fairly comprehensive listing of human rights and other concerns in China and here is Amnesty International's most recent statement on the subject.

There seems to be a fairly wide consensus that China is engaged in some practices that are frowned upon internationally. In fact, in bidding for the Olympics, the committee from China indicated that there would be improvements to the human rights situation there. As the Olympics drew closer, however, various groups have noted that the situation has not improved and may have even worsened.

This leads to the question of boycotting the Olympics. Some groups and individuals think that the 2008 Olympics should be boycotted because China has failed to live up to the international standards of human rights (an example.) Other groups think participating in the Beijing Olympics is a positive step, as it draws attention to these violations (an example.) Some members of the Democratic Party have called upon President Bush to boycott the opening ceremonies, but support the participation of athletes in events (an example.)

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Thinking about this led me to consider NYU's own ban of Coke Products. It was enacted in 2005 in response to alleged labor violations in Columbian bottling plants*. Later, Colombian workers protested the ban because of the detrimental effects it had on their livelihoods*. Now the university is considering lifting the ban in light of an investigation into the labor practices*.

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The question I have in all of this is how effective are boycotts in enacting social change? Are there other options which are more effective at keeping concerns like this in the public eye? Are the students at NYU today still concerned about keeping Coke off campus?

What is our role as university employees in helping students with long term actions like this? Given that many of the students who were originally passionate about this issue have graduated and moved on, do we make sure their viewpoints are represented in current discussions? Do we empower current students to take actions they feel are appropriate? What about when these two viewpoints are in conflict? How do we help to keep the conversation going?