Becoming A Fair Trade University

Source—On Friday, October 31, Hartwick College announced its recognition as a Fair Trade College - the 25^th in the country - in a ceremony at Yager Hall. President Margaret L. Drugovich unveiled a framed certificate before members of the College's staff and student body who helped lead the effort. The acknowledgement comes from Fair Trade Campaigns, an organization that recognizes towns, colleges, universities, schools, and congregations in the U.S. that adopt Fair Trade principles and practices.

Good for Hartwick College for recognizing and supporting their faculty and students hard efforts towards social justice. So why hasn’t Fordham tried to be recognized as a Fair Trade College? I’ve already shown how our Jesuit principles perfectly align with the goals and values of the Fair trade movement. So why aren’t we trying to get this recognition.

Well one of the requirements to get this recognition is to have at least two Fair Trade products in each food location. Well dang it, we would have to go to Sodexo and this might take years to do right? It’d be worth too much time for Fordham to try and change Sodexo. But wait, we already have two products. According to the Sodexo website, Aspretto coffee which is served in all locations, is fair trade purchased and trans-fair certified. Now you might be saying well that’s only one product. Well, it so happens that the sugar we use is also Fair Trade sugar.

So our values match the Fair Trade movement. Our actions represent our values and therefore the Fair Trade movement. So why won’t we accept the recognition of being a Fair Trade College? We are and should be better than that Fordham. If you’re asking for your students to “go forth and set the world on fire” why not lead by example yourself?

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