Students Say: You are what you eat…and drink, and wear!
When Lois Harr, CRS Fair Trade Ambassador from the Bronx, invited me to join her and Manhattan College student Sarah Cicuto in St. Louis at a conference with the theme, “Global Learning and Social Responsibility through a LaSallian Education,” I was all about the global social responsibility piece, but I had to do a little homework to learn who the “LaSallians” are. I quickly figured out these are the educators—both religious and lay–associated with the Brothers of the Christian Schools, an order founded by the “universal patron of educators,” French priest John Baptiste de La Salle. The warm welcome and the outstanding range of speakers I am experiencing here at their Huether Conference is educating me quickly on the power and reach of the LaSallian tradition. At our workshop, Lois and I discussed the faith-based roots of Fair Trade and how Fair Trade is a tool of economic justice. But Sarah was the star of the show, explaining how Manhattan College’s Just Peace group helps students live their values through eating chocolate and drinking coffee!
Sarah took the gathered group through the brief but impressive history of Just Peace on campus. In her role as Campus Minister, Lois had taken a group of student volunteers on a service trip to Ecuador where they were introduced to the need for Fair Trade. Soon after, some of the students decided to attend a United Students for Fair Trade (USFT) convergence in Boston in 2006 to learn how other students were bringing Fair Trade to campus. After seeking out examples from surrounding schools in their region, the students decided to take on a campus campaign. But first they organized themselves as an official student government organization, not only to spread news of their mission but also to get some of the budget allocated to student groups on campus. Pretty savvy kids.
Just Peace student Erin solicits Fair Trade support
The group started its campaign by encouraging students to fill out the comment cards in the dining halls asking for Fair Trade coffee, and then they set up a meeting with the Operations Manager for Sodexho to “demand” Fair Trade coffee. What they didn’t realize is that the manager, Dennis McCoskey, was quite willing to make the switch if the students wanted it. Sarah and her fellow group members were surprised that Sodexho was so willing to respond. Sarah says, “I learned that to make change sometimes you just have to ask the right people the right questions.”
She also learned that it is important to thank the decision makers and keep the lines of communication open. Just Peace and Sodexho now meet regularly to strategize over next product offerings, such as Fair Trade bananas or Fair Trade chocolate, and to make sure that the requests of students remain at the forefront of the food service providers’ concerns. Recently the Fair Trade Certified label wasn’t appearing on coffee carafes, so Just Peace had to hold Dennis and his staff to account.
But the relationship is not adversarial and another feature of Just Peace’s work is that they build celebration into their efforts. By working together to plan events, the group keeps up interest in Fair Trade and finds ways to educate a new generations of students. During Fair Trade month, thanks to support of the CRS Fair Trade Fund, they hosted coffee farmer Rigoberto Contreras Diaz from the MICHIZA cooperative in Mexico for campus visits, helping students put a face behind the Fair Trade coffee in their re-useable mugs. Other techniques they use include offering lots of Fair Trade chocolate samples, and hosting crafts sales to expose students to the range of products that make up the Fair Trade marketplace.
Looking forward, Sarah is relieved that two first-year students are ready to take up the leadership of Just Peace, after receiving CRS Fair Trade Fund scholarships to attend the 2008 USFT convergence in Seattle. The main lesson she wants to pass on to them, and that she shared with the LaSallian group, is that, “one step at a time takes time.” Although the group has accomplished a lot in its short history, it is able to do so because it took care to build mutually beneficial relationships, identify allies, and consistently share information. (hmm, sounds a lot like the Fair Trade principles!) A next step for the group will be to host a spring symposium for regional colleges in the Northeast on how Fair Trade relates to sustainability initiatives on campus.
I’ll ask Sarah to do a posting herself from that event!
Tags: Chocolate, christian brothers conference, Coffee, crafts, crs, fair trade, justpeace, lasallian conference, manhattan college
