[Newleaf] Fwd: Student Food Organizing--Creating community goals

[jkr10 at hampshire.edu]

----- Forwarded message from Jessa Orluk <jessamaeorluk at gmail.com> -----
    Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2013 09:06:00 -0500
    From: Jessa Orluk <jessamaeorluk at gmail.com>
Subject: Student Food Organizing--Creating community goals
      To: sal10 at hampshire.edu, djm10 at hampshire.edu,  
chc11 at hampshire.edu, Margo DALAL <mad10 at hampshire.edu>, Ava Samuel  
<asamuel46 at gmail.com>, Sophie Schultze-Allen <sgs11 at hampshire.edu>,  
mrb09 at hampshire.edu, chkr10 at hampshire.edu, ek11 at hampshire.edu,  
rehamping at lists.hampshire.edu, sourcesigners at lists.hampshire.edu,  
rerad at lists.hampshire.edu, asj12 at hampshire.edu, jkr10 at hampshire.edu,  
bnw12 at hampshire.edu
      Cc: Bexx Merck <ram10 at hampshire.edu>, tittmann.hester at gmail.com,  
tfc09 at hampshire.edu

*

Dear All,

You?ve been identified as a group interested in food & food justice on
Hampshire?s Campus. In light of the Food Service Provider Student Feedback
Session this past Thursday, we feel it is necessary to come together and
collectively envision our role in the future of food on campus.

We propose that we gather on Saturday, March 9th from 5-7PM. Location TBD,
but it will be accessible, central on campus and large enough to hold all
of us. We are working on getting dinner provided.

Background Information:

As you may already know, Sodexo?s contract can be voided at any time (with
notice), and five food companies (Aramark, Bon Appetit, UMass Dining,
Sodexo & Chartwells) are bidding to be awarded the next contract. Whoever
becomes our next food service provider will be investing millions in our
infrastructure, campus and community, and, effectively, altering our
current experience of food on campus. There is a Food Service RFP (Request
For Proposal) Committee in place, with five students, Hester Tittmann,
Ethan Kassler, Margo Dala, Dina Amouzigh, Samantha Kramer, & Wesley Evans
and a number of faculty and staff. As we understand it they will consider
the proposals, organize interviews, engage community input, and ultimately
make a recommendation to the wider community and Jonathan Lash.

So far community engagement has gone well; the two events surrounding this
transition, the Bidder?s Presentations & the Student Feedback Session, have
both been all community events and been well attended. A blog will go up
soon documenting all the meetings, and the process will be fully
transparent.

What?s Next:

Although we trust the students on the committee to represent our needs, we
think it imperative that we give them a solid understanding of what it is
that we want. This allows us to ask for specifics to be built into the
contract of whoever becomes the next food provider. Some of the elements
that have already come up in the previous events are listed below.
Solidifying our positions on these, and potentially other questions or
concerns, would be the focus of our proposal to the committee.

a. What the role of student food co-ops, businesses, and other ventures to
provide food services on campus should be (ie. Mixed Nuts, Rambling Root,
the Night Truck etc.).

b. While we do not want to speak for others, how to ensure that there are
avenues for the current workers under Sodexo, as well as other members of
the food community at Hampshire, to have their voices heard.

c. In what ways students can have agency around the food they eat, through
access to cooking and input into the menu, ie. familial recipes instead of
appropriating/imitating cultural food ways.

d. What it means to have a just and ethical food system, not just in terms
of local, non-GMO, or organic, but also in terms of financial
accessibility, waste, point of origin etc., (ie. distance travelled,
factory conditions for both animals and humans etc.)

We hope you will join us in an inclusive conversation facilitated by the
three of us, Bexx (studying permaculture and sustainable infrastructure,
Rehamping & CoCD Signer), Hester (studying architecture & critical theory,
member of the RFP committee & portal committee, Rehamping Signer) and Jessa
(studying political ecology, former member of the Environmental Committee,
and member of Transition Hampshire/Transition Amherst)

Our proposed points of action:

1) A written proposal for what role students will have in the food service
on campus, in terms of elements such as infrastructure, partnerships,
access etc.

2) What standards for which we will hold the food provider accountable, in
terms of elements such as buying and labor practices, transparency,
financial feasibility, quality etc.

All of this is up for discussion and we look forward to your thoughts and
responses. Regardless of what we choose to do, it is necessary that we act
quickly, as this process will be over in less than two months.

Communication & Pass it on:

Please pass this on to any and all community members, offices, groups or
organizations with which you are affiliated, or anyone you think would like
to engage in this conversation.

We will keep you posted via facebook, and if you do not use facebook or
prefer email or another form of communication, don?t hesitate to contact
one of us.

https://www.facebook.com/events/379554595485958/?notif_t=plan_admin_added

Thank you for all being awesome,

Bexx Merck (she/her, they/them)
ram10 at hampshire.edu

Jessa Orluk (she/her)
jmo11 at hampshire.edu

Hester Tittmann (they/them)
hct09 at hampshire.edu*

----- End forwarded message -----