Students

Download handout: Resources for Student Action

Student Organizations
What you can do as a student
  • Get involved in existing organizations on your own campus: is there a sustainability group? A fair trade group? Go to one of their meetings and tell people you’re interested in working on domestic fair trade issues. See who else is interested in working with you.
  • Start a chapter of an organization promoting fair food on your campus.  If there’s no existing chapter of, say, the Real Food Challenge or the United Students for Fair Trade, start one! Contact a regional organizer from an existing organization who can help you get started with forming a chapter.
  • Learn more about domestic and international fair trade, farm workers, immigration, free trade agreements, and sustainable food systems.  Being well informed about the issues is one of the most important things you can do.
  • Educate your fellow students or classmates.  Take a look at the “Be an Educator” section to learn more about how you can screen this video and teach others about the issues.
  • Get in touch with a local farmworker organization to learn more about the issues in your area. Host an event such as a film screening or art exhibit, and have members of the organization come present beforehand.
  • Conduct a survey of fellow students to get a sense of how much interest there is in domestic fair trade, and how much students would be willing to pay for it.
  • Learn more about your dining service provider. Does your campus have Sodexo, Aramark, Compass, Bon Appetit?  Learn what they are doing around sustainability and fair trade at the corporate level. Know this before you have a meeting with them.
  • Meet with dining services to discuss options for sourcing fair food.  Learn what they’re already doing in terms of sustainable food, and ask them what it would take to get more fair-trade food served in your cafeteria.  Do your homework: know your issues and your asks, and read up on working with dining services first.
  • Farm-to-college programs can be a great way to get in touch with local farmers.  Buying locally from people you know gives you the opportunity to talk with them about their labor practices.  Get to know your farmers, and when you find someone who is doing a great job, have the farmer and farmworkers come give a talk on campus.