The purchase of a cup of coffee might support more than just the coffee’s brand.
There is a movement on campus to bring Fair Trade coffee to Texas Tech. Fair Trade coffee is a product of the Fair Trade movement, which advocates providing direct market access to farmers in developing countries rather than a middle man in hopes of improving the producers’ lives. Terri Dove, a senior visual studies major from Cooper, is co-president of the student organization leading the Fair Trade coffee advocacy, Seva. Dove said through Seva, students advocate and educate others about global-community causes.
“It’s not that we don’t think people don’t want to help,” Dove said. “We think people don’t know how.”
She said through the support of Fair Trade, the social premium of impoverished societies and the construction of roads and schools will improve.
Dove said Seva has been in contact with Hospitality Services regarding Fair Trade coffee.
She said through the organization’s petitioning, she hopes students will leave with some knowledge or simple recognition of the Fair Trade coffee label. The group has set the goal of 400 signatures, and in one day Seva received about 100 signatures.
“I think it’s because that day we were giving out cookies,” Dove said. “I think there is a way to do it, it just might cost more money.”
James Kainer, manager of purchasing and menu development for Tech’s Hospitality Services, compares Seva and its battle for Fair Trade coffee to a grassroots campaign; how it started in his office with two people and now has grown to a 200-person petition. He said he believes Tech students in general care about the environment, but there is a lack of overall student awareness about conservation.
“I don’t think we have as much as other universities,” Kainer said, “but I do think we have a strong enough interest to do something.”
Kainer said Hospitality Services are not against providing Fair Trade coffee to students, but finding an economical way to bring the coffee has created a problem.
Even though Kainer doesn’t make the ultimate decisions for Hospitality Services, he said purchasing from any vendor or organization begins with him. He checks the price, quality and availability of potential products.
He said he has spoken with the main distributor and the different food brokers Tech uses, and the only available coffee with certification to meet international environmental, labor and developmental standards is Rainforest Alliance coffee.
“We’ve kind of exhausted all avenues to bring it through our supplier,” he said.
Laura Zak, the other president of Seva, said she is skeptical of Rainforest Alliance in comparison to Fair Trade. Zak, a senior English major from Lubbock, still has hope for Fair Trade coffee on Tech campus. She said out of the two coffee brands university sells, the contract with Daybreak Coffee ends in about four years. With the contract ending, she said the students can help negotiate Fair Trade on the new contract.
She said by purchasing Fair Trade products, including sugar, chocolate and tea, people are doing more than helping others, they’re getting a better product.
“Basically you can’t get enough products,” Zak said. “We just want to keep on going. It’s better quality and it tastes a lot better.”
Seva has been involved with activist causes such as Darfur but has changed its complete focus to Fair Trade, Zak said.
“We just felt that it was a better way for students to feel they’re making a difference in the international community,” she said.
Alison Church, a senior photojournalism major from Arlington, said she sometimes purchases her coffee in the Student Union Building.
Church said she is aware of both the Seva and the Fair Trade coffee. She found out about the organization last year when Seva helped out with V-day campaign, an event put on by the Feminist Majority Leader Alliance at Tech.
“The first time I went to their meeting was because they supported my organization,” Church said, “but after that, after seeing the passion of those girls, I felt the desire to help out any way I can.”
Church said she believes Fair Trade eventually will be served at Tech.
“I think that in a way that in Lubbock, Fair Trade is a new subject to come into the city,” Church said. “I think as the city becomes greener I think it’s only a matter of time before it reaches the campus.”
