Student fair trade coffee activists have fought for over a year to ensure cups at UW Housing eateries are filled with strictly fair trade coffee. They recently won when the housing committee agreed to switch coffee contracts for the '07-'08 school year.
Armed with hundreds of signatures from students living in dorms, the Madison Fair Trade Action Alliance went to UW Housing in spring 2006 and asked for the university to alter its food vendor contract.
Under current contract, the dining halls serve a mixture of both fair trade and non fair trade coffees. ""We felt it wasn't sufficient enough,"" said Beth Geglia, a MFTAA member and UW-Madison senior. ""Companies that do mixed fair trade and non-fair trade subsidize their fair trade coffee by paying really low prices for their non-fair trade coffee.""
The group attests fair trade coffee supports environmental sustainability and ensures a living wage for growers.
University Housing complied with the group and said its proposal was ""perfectly doable,"" according to Geglia. Angie Erickson of University Housing confirmed April 23 the contract switch is set to occur after next school year.
A cup of coffee may go up between five and nine cents, but Geglia, said students indicated on comment cards they were willing to pay the increase.
—Lexie Clinton
