Notes from previous campaigner:
August 2003
The Fair Trade coffee campaign unofficially began in the spring of 2001 when a group of students started to discuss making Loyola's coffee service 100% Fair Trade. They represented a number of different groups, including the Student Environmental Alliance, Loyola Students Against Sweatshops, Campus Greens, and Amnesty International. The food service was approached about the issue, and agreed to offer a token fair trade option, but not much beyond that. When approached in the Fall of 2001, the president of the university was reluctant to implement the change to Fair Trade without broad support from the student body, and formed a task force to look into the issue. So students formed an ad hoc committee for Fair Trade to both educate and organize for Fair Trade coffee, with support from a number of faculty and staff. They:
- Handed out flyers and brochures about Fair Trade - Gave out free samples of Fair Trade coffee - Wrote editorials and placed ads in the school newspaper - Collected signatures on a petition, made postcards for people to send to the university president - A university staffperson conducted an email survey and reported over 80% of faculty and staff responding supported 100% Fair Trade coffee - During the president's keynote address at a major conference on the university's response to poverty, students held placards that spelled out the words "Fair Trade Loyola" to remind him of a concrete way the university could combat poverty - Brought the issue to student government, who passed a resolution supporting 100% Fair Trade coffee
These efforts led to the 65-70% increase in fair trade coffee served by the end of the 2002 academic year.
CAMPAIGN VICTORY!!! Last academic year, our coffee provider Java City has been selling somewhere between 65-70% fair trade coffee. The year before, we had a Fair Trade Task Force look into the idea of switching to a fair trade coffee company, but we could not find one that satisfied our food service provider, Aramark. So, Java City remained, selling fair trade espresso drinks and a few Fair Trade varieties. However, a few weeks ago, Aramark decided to replace Java City with the fair trade company Pura Vida. Pura Vida had everything Aramark was looking for a wide variety, proactive education on Fair Trade issues, good prices, etc. So we were thrilled to hear that Aramark made this decision to switch to an all Fair Trade company! This is the result of years of effort from students, staff, faculty, and administration. Loyola's Lakeshore campus is now 100% Fair Trade coffee!
June 13, 2002 (Russ Plywaczynski)
At the end of our spring semester, the Fair Trade Coffee Task Force submitted a proposal to out President, Fr. Michael Garanzini, SJ, detailing the options our school had for fair trade coffee. Our first option was to switch to a local roasting company, Intelligentsia Coffee, which would provide us with all FT and organic coffee. Our other option was to stay with Java City, which will soon (if not already) be offering FT espresso beans, which compose 50% of our coffee sales. The President's Cabinet, due to concerns over cost, decided to stick with Java City, which means that Loyola will not be a 100% fair trade coffee campus next year. We are disappointed that we did not reach this goal, but we will continue our efforts into the next academic year to make Loyola University a 100% FTC campus. But on the positive side, we have made significant gains. At this time last year, our campus did not sell any fair trade coffee.
Over the past year, Java City began offering one or two Fair Trade alternatives (our of three to five varieties), and now, as already mentioned, Java City will be offering FT espresso beans. This means that our FTC sales will be 65-75% of our total coffee sales. SO- FOR ALL THE COLLEGE CAMPUSES WHERE JAVA CITY COFFEE IS SOLD: JAVA CITY OFFERS FAIR TRADE COFFEE!! All you have to do is request that they begin to sell it! We think that student pressure has prompted the company to offer more FT alternatives, and we are excited that the company will now offer FT espresso beans. So that's the update. We have not reached our goal of 100%, but we will keep fighting!
April 10, 2002 (Russ Plywaczynski)
Lots of good stuff going on over here. Just this last monday, our task force reviewed two proposals for serving all Fair Trade coffee at Loyola, from Equal Exchange and Intelligentsia. Right now, there are a few details to be worked out with both companies, but our task force is set to make our proposal to president Fr. Michael Garanzini, SJ, this Monday, April 15th. We will decide which coffee company our school should go with. So, in short, it looks that by the beginning of next year Loyola University Chicago will serve only fair trade coffee! Wish us luck, and I will let you know what happens immediately.
March 28, 2002 (Marco Tavanti)
I came back from Chiapas and from two lecturing visits in California where I taught about Fair Trade. Thank you for the package on the Folgers Campaign. I passed the material to students of Maya Vinic Fair Trade Coffee produced by the cooperative of Las Abejas in Chiapas we recently visited) and to the Task Force Committee for Fair Trade at Loyola University Chicago. I know they have given around the material and signed the petitions. I am not sure if they have organized something else as I missed their last meeting.
March 1, 2002 (Russ Plywaczynski)
Our Fair Trade "task force," which was set up by our President Fr. Garanzini, SJ, to handle the issue (there is student representation on the task force, four of us), made the goal to come up with a decision by the end of this academic year. The administration is very receptive to the issue, and right now is only concerned about the cost, feasability, and logistics of such a move. Basically, I am pretty hopeful that we will have all fair trade by the beginning of the fall semester, but don't quote me on that yet. Inteligentsia, Equal Exchange and Peace Coffee so far have expressed interest in serving fair trade organic coffee. If you know of any other companies in our area that would like to serve our University, please let me know. The more, the better! Good luck on March 7!
Peace, Russ
February 25, 2002 (Marco Tavanti)
On March 7, 2002, I will be in Chiapas leading a delegation of students of Loyola University Chicago. We will visit and dialogue with the Maya Vinic fair trade coffee cooperative. This will be a big help in our work of promoting Fair Trade Coffee. Here at Loyola we have constituted a Fair Trade Coffee group that will be very happy to participate in the March 7 initiative. Please send me the material ASAP. Thank your for your work and support.
January 2002 (Russ Plywaczynski)
We now have Java City Fair Trade on campus, but they are offering only 1 kind of FTC at each dining service location right now. We want dining services to go to 100% FTC, but they would have to switch companies to do this because Java City only three Fair Trade blends in all. The good side is that the price is the same as Non-FT. ARAMARK is supportive of FTC, but they are new to the campus so we are being careful and diplomatic in our dealings with them. The Java City contract is set up through ARAMARK, so we haven't contacted Java City them directly. This is a possible next step for increasing Fair Trade on campus.
October 4, 2001 (Russ Plywaczynski)
We are interested in the Fair Trade Coffee campaign. We've already gotten Aramark to carry Java City FTC, and hopefully they will offer this for at least 3 of the 5 blends sold at campus locations.
