Upon returning from Spring Break, Georgetown cafeteria patrons will have to get their caffeine fix the Fair Trade way, as New South and Darnall cafeterias will begin offering only Fair Trade coffee.
According to Associate Vice President of Auxiliary Services Margie Bryant, the decision to supply only Fair Trade coffee in the cafeterias was made by the Dining Services Committee, an organization composed of both students and members of the Auxiliary Services staff.
Bryant said that the committee had been in the process of examining both student interests and the availability of Fair Trade coffee in mass quantities. She said that New South has been offering Fair Trade coffee along side Maxwell House coffee since the beginning of the year in order to gauge student preferences. Initially, the University was only able to purchase Fair Trade Coffee in individual servings, which Bryant said was impractical for serving a large number of students.
However, Bryant said that the committee saw that students liked Fair Trade coffee and was informed that large quantities of the coffee were available.
“It just makes sense to offer it,” she said. “We want to be equitable to the growers.”
Georgetown Students for Fair Trade, a group founded by Stephanie Faith Green (SFS ‘05) in summer of 2002, is responsible for making Fair Trade Coffee an option at several campus locations, including the Starbucks kiosk in the Leavey Center, Center Grill, Vital Vittles, Uncommon Ground, Midnight Mug and Buzz, a cafe in the Medical Center.
In addition to making New South and Darnall 100 percent Fair Trade certified, Green said that GSFT received a guarantee from the committee that the Southwest Quadrangle cafeteria will only offer Fair Trade coffee when it opens next fall.
“It is a great victory that Georgetown decided to listen to the students’ voices,” Green said.
Green stated that GSFT will continue to work with the management of Students of Georgetown Inc. to convince them to exclusively sell Fair Trade coffee.
