From Food Insecurity to Food Sovereignty: How UConn Students Can Mobilize Our Meal Plans

In March of 2020, the University of Connecticut’s United Student Government (USG) hosted the first ever “Husky Market,” a pop-up food pantry which distributed about $2000 worth of food to students who waited an hour in line in anticipation of getting food before it ran out. The funding for this food pantry came from USG’s budget “by essentially using student fee money in order to pay it directly back to the students (1).”

Was this story heartwarming, or dystopian? The price of college has become so astronomical that a significant number of students cannot regularly afford groceries. The student group USG decided to reallocate some of our student fees back to our own students, but this effort was limited. Even with plans to expand the Husky Market pantry in the future, this will always be a limited resource in terms of a true solution to student food insecurity.

The US Department of Health and Human Services defines food insecurity as “The disruption of food intake or eating patterns because of lack of money and other resources (2),” while the US Department of Agriculture categorizes food insecurity into two subgroups. The first category is low food security, defined as, “reports of reduced quality, variety, or desirability of diet. Little or no indication of reduced food intake.” The second category is very low food security, defined as; “Reports of multiple indications of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake (3).” 

According to a recent student-led food insecurity research project at UConn:

• “25% of respondents had faced worries within the past year that they would not have enough food to eat because of a lack of money or other resources.
• 45% of respondents were unable to eat healthy or nutritious food because they lacked resources.
• 30%  of the survey respondents had to skip meals.
• 31% percent faced a time when they were hungry but did not eat because they did not have enough money.
• Over 50% of respondents said that they would occasionally or frequently use a food pantry if there were one available on campus and they didn’t have enough food (4).” 

So how do we put an end to food insecurity and hunger on our campus? Through efforts toward food justice. Food justice is not just about opening food pantries to provide immediate, yet short lived, relief from food insecurity. Food justice encompasses the food system as a whole, as well as all of the factors in our society that create, perpetuate, and are impacted by food insecurity. In the introduction to the book Food Justice Now! Joshua Sbicca describes food justice as:

“All ideas and practices that strive to eliminate oppression and challenge the structural drivers of all inequities within and beyond the food system. Food justice also advocates for the right to healthy food that is produced justly, recognizes diverse cultural foodways and historical traumas, and promotes equitable distribution of resources, democratic participation, and control over food systems (5).” 

Is UConn creating food justice? In some ways, yes. For example, kosher and halal foods are offered in our dining halls, which is an important factor in providing our student body with culturally relevant food (6). On top of that, UConn has the Spring Valley garden, which employs student workers to grow and produce a small amount of the food offered in our dining halls (7). Furthermore, many of our dining halls are green restaurant certified, working to recycle food waste into fuel, using energy and water-efficient equipment, and donating leftover cafe items to local food kitchens (8). However, UConn as a whole still invests in fossil fuels, and though the school has announced plans to become carbon neutral by 2050, student groups like UConn’s chapter of Fridays for Future (FFF) have accused the administration of hypocrisy as the school has not committed to divesting from fossil fuels. These students feel that the University of Connecticut is not adequately addressing the climate crisis (9) (10). In an October 2019 letter to the UConn community, President Thomas Katsouleas stated that he has committed to, “working toward the governor’s goal of a 45% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 (11).” The language here is tricky. UConn’s president has committed to working toward the goal– but has he committed to meeting that goal? This is one of the areas where FFF takes issue with the administration’s approach to climate action.

In short, UConn’s food system has some just aspects, but it leaves a lot to be desired. The sheer cost of meal plans on campus (residential meal plans cost an average of $6,012 per academic year (12)) is enough to assess that, no, UConn does not make food financially accessible and therefore is probably not living out a model of food justice.

UConn residents of suites and dorms are required to purchase expensive meal plans on top of their residential fees. All residential meal plans are unlimited, but only for the student who owns the meal plan. Students may swipe others into the dining halls using what are called “flex passes,” which come with all residential meal plans. The amount of flex passes on a student’s meal plan ranges from 35 to 75 swipes (12). Based on my own experiences and conversations with students, as well as anecdotal reports like this one, it seems that many students have dozens of unused flex passes by the end of the semester (13). Each semester, hundreds, if not thousands, of pre-paid meals in the form of flex passes go unprepared and uneaten, existing only as a number on a screen. So where is our money going? It’s not feeding us, and it’s not paying for the supply, production, or labor that goes into the meals, because those meals do not physically exist. Unused meal passes are common at colleges across the country. So common, that the organization Swipe Out Hunger partners with 120 college campuses across the country to hold “swipe drives,” where students are asked to donate their unused meal swipes to fellow students or local hunger relief organizations (14). UConn hosts “Give a Meal” programs, which tend to occur at dining halls one day out of the semester during a 3-hour meal window. Students are allowed to donate one of their flex passes to the cause, and for each flex pass, $2.50 is donated to local hunger relief organizations (13).

The money students pay for their meal plans far exceeds the amount that they elect to “donate” during these swipe drives, as a flex pass is valued at $7 (12). And although UConn students often have many leftover flex passes at the end of the semester, they are only allowed to donate one pass. It seems that more money is being made than resources are actually distributed. Can we trust the university with our resources? Will it be up to students to take control of where these resources are actually going? Should students pressure the university to donate the full value of unused flex passes to hunger organizations? How can we as students fight food insecurity effectively?

Food sovereignty group Nyeleni expands upon food justice principles of sustainability, health, and culturally appropriate food by asserting that food sovereignty is, “The right of peoples… to define their own food and agriculture systems.” Food sovereignty applies to indigenous people, laborers, and oppressed peoples globally (15). We can learn from and apply food sovereignty to our UConn student body and surrounding community, but it is important not to appropriate the movement from those it was created by and for. The principle of food sovereignty should guide us in our efforts toward food justice in our UConn community and beyond, fighting for the rights and the food security of the workers who grow and prepare our food. Students of color are especially vulnerable to food insecurity; poor, working class, trans and gender nonconforming students are all among minoritized student populations who report the highest incidence of food insecurity (16). The student workers’ movement Everyone Eats But UConn brought attention to these issues this past spring and summer when student workers were suspended without pay unexpectedly due to COVID-19. Through student testimonials, it also became clear how students with disabilities as well as students with disabled family members were especially impacted by abruptly losing their student employment incomes (17). Many of UConn’s student workers work in Dining Services and are a direct part of our campus’ food system, and they were some of the students who were most impacted by the shutting down of our dining halls (18). The students who are the most vulnerable are often the students who are the least protected by the institution. 

It’s our job as a student body and university community to assert our demands, work toward food sovereignty, and protect one another, especially those of us who are most vulnerable. A lot of us are already sharing resources with one another without thinking much of it. It’s a commonplace for students without meal plans to find friends and classmates who can swipe them into dining halls via flex passes. While I was a commuter student, I relied on friends for swipes, and while I was a resident, I freely offered swipes to friends, classmates, and occasionally even strangers. If the university is not paying unused flex passes back to students, and is barely paying them forward, should we as students create a system to take care of each other, organizing a platform where we can quickly connect to other students in need of meal swipes and meet them at dining halls to swipe them in? Is this a way to take control of our own food sovereignty? If we redistribute our swipes to one another, so that no flex passes and meal swipes go unused each semester, we can make sure that the resources that are meant for our community actually benefit our community. The university should not be pocketing our cash while our community is hungry. Isn’t it our duty to “Protect Our Pack?”

Bibliography

(1) Daigle, C. (2020, March 12). USG’s Husky Market provides free groceries to UConn students. WHUS Radio News. Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://whus.org/2020/03/usgs-husky-market-provides-free-groceries-to-uconn-students/ 

(2) Food Insecurity. (n.d.). Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/social-determinants-health/interventions-resources/food-insecurity 

(3) Definitions of Food Security. (2019, September 04). Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-us/definitions-of-food-security/ 

(4) Severance, J. (2019, February 12). Student-driven Project Seeks to Address Food Insecurity on Campus. UConn Today. Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://today.uconn.edu/2019/02/student-driven-project-seeks-to-address-food-insecurity-on-campus/ 

(5) Sbicca, J. (2018). Introduction. In Food justice now!: Deepening the roots of social struggle. Minneapolis, MN, MN: University of Minnesota Press. https://manifold.umn.edu/read/food-justice-now/section/f88967c1-614f-4a2a-88ef-ca8bf410f0ec

(6) Lang, E. (2013, October 02). Dining Locations. Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://dining.uconn.edu/locations/ 

(7) Gonci, J. (2018, March 15). Spring Valley Student Farm. Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://dining.uconn.edu/spring-valley-farm/ 

(8) Lang, E. (2013, October 02). Greening Efforts. Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://dining.uconn.edu/greening-efforts/ 

(9) @uconnfridaysforfuture. (2019, October 24). Why Should UConn Declare a Climate Emergency? Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://www.instagram.com/p/B4AjBG9gJDx/ 

(10) @uconnfridaysforfuture. (2019, October 21). What is divestment and why do we care about it? Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://www.instagram.com/p/B34-joLgnuP/ 

(11) Katsouleas, T. (2019, October 04). Letter from President Katsouleas to the UConn Community: Oct. 2, 2019. Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://ecohusky.uconn.edu/letter-from-president-katsouleas-to-the-uconn-community-oct-2-2019/ 

(12) Lang, E. (2013, October 02). Meal Plans & Pricing. Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://dining.uconn.edu/meal-plans/ 

(13) Tall, S. (2019, October 14). Uconn Students “Swipe Out” Hunger. WHUS Radio News. Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://whus.org/2019/10/uconn-students-swipe-out-hunger/ 

(14) Solutions to College Food Insecurity. (2020, August 26). Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://www.swipehunger.org/ourwork/ 

(15) Maitreuweb. (2007, February 27). DECLARATION OF NYÉLÉNI. Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://nyeleni.org/spip.php?article290 

(16) American Psychological Association. (2019, August 08). Food Insecurity Common Across US Higher Education Campuses [Press release]. Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2019/08/food-insecurity-campuses 

(17) @everyone.eats.but.uconn. (2020, May 05). Some stories anonymously sent by our supporters. Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://www.instagram.com/p/B_05MUYAK80/ 

(18) Ariano, K. (2020, May 25). Student workers demand pay through end of semester. WHUS Radio News. Retrieved August 29, 2020, from https://whus.org/2020/05/student-workers-demand-pay-through-end-of-semester/