Campus Wins
Success Stories + Case Studies
Pomona College
2026
The Pomona College Students Against Starbucks campaign was a student-worker solidarity effort led by the Claremont Student Worker Alliance (CSWA) that successfully pressured the college to stop selling Starbucks products. After Pomona College admin introduced Starbucks products at Café 47 without meaningful student consultation, organizers launched a multi-semester campaign that combined petitions, flyering, teach-ins, rallies, media outreach, and student government organizing. Students collected more than 500 petition signatures, organized public events featuring campus union baristas and campus groups, and built support through unanimous action in student government. This was all done while encouraging students to boycott Starbucks products on campus.
By sustaining pressure through both institutional channels and public organizing, the campaign demonstrated widespread opposition to Starbucks' record of union-busting and labor law violations. After months of organizing and negotiations, college administrators agreed not to renew the Starbucks contract and committed to finding a new vendor. The victory showed how students can leverage their power as a key consumer base to support union workers and win concrete changes on their campuses, adding another important success to the growing national Students Against Starbucks movement
University of California Los Angeles
2024
At UCLA, students worked alongside union baristas and Starbucks Workers United to challenge the sale of Starbucks products at ASUCLA-operated cafés. Organizers built support through petition drives, outreach conversations, coalition work, and advocacy within student government. Their efforts culminated in a unanimous Undergraduate Students Association Council (USAC) resolution calling on campus leaders to cut ties with Starbucks over its anti-worker labor practices.
Following sustained organizing and engagement with campus decision-makers, ASUCLA announced it would transition away from Starbucks products and adopt alternative coffee providers. The campaign highlighted the importance of combining grassroots organizing with institutional pressure and became one of the most visible student victories in support of Starbucks workers nationwide.
2023
The Cornell Students for Labor Action campaign became the first major Students Against Starbucks victory in the country. After Starbucks closed all three unionized stores in Ithaca, student organizers launched a campaign demanding that Cornell end its participation in the company's "We Proudly Serve Starbucks" program. Through escalating actions that included rallies, public pressure, student government organizing, and more, students transformed a local labor dispute into a campus-wide issue.
In August 2023, Cornell announced it would not renew its Starbucks contract when it expired in 2025. The victory established a new model for student-labor solidarity by demonstrating that universities could be pressured to reconsider their relationships with corporations engaged in union-busting. Cornell's success became the catalyst for a wave of similar campaigns at campuses across the country and helped lay the foundation for the national Students Against Starbucks movement.
