SLAAC calls for locally grown and organic food at DePauw
By: Meghan Kazer
Issue date: 2/22/08 Section: News
Continuing DePauw's trend of "going green," members of Student Life and Academic Atmosphere Committee proposed changes to campus dining services, including more organic and locally grown options, through a letter to Richard Speller, vice president for financial planning.
"Our whole focus is going in that direction," said director of dining services Steve Santo, adding that locally grown food will be added first, followed by organic.
Currently, the Prairie Farms milk and Scholar's Inn bread are from local vendors. Santo said the University is still in the process of finding a local vendor for the rest of the food and believes students will see much more locally grown food in the early fall.
SLAAC's letter asked for 20 percent of food to be organic and locally grown for the first two years, after which the percent would increase to 35. Santo doesn't find a problem with meeting this criteria. Santo said he will come to a solution soon, as dining services has already begun to move in that direction.
"It's an evolution," he said. "We have a timeline and so do they."
Junior Alex Breitinger said he realizes that increasing organic and locally grown food will not be met favorably by everyone.
"From a practical standpoint, it's going to increase cost, which will increase Hub prices even more," Breitinger said. "[But] it's our responsibility as citizens of this world to start eating responsibly, which means we can't be importing apples from Washington State when we [have options nearby]."
Several environmentally friendly changes have already been made this academic year. Real dishes and ecofriendly napkins have been added, and ecofriendly chemicals are now used. Vegetarian and vegan needs have also been considered in new buffet bar options.
Santo says it has not been very successful, but added, "We're going to give it time."
Dining services is trying to meet with students to gauge interest in vegetarian or vegan options. They also hope for feedback through a survey, which is expected to go out campus wide in about a month, Santo said.
The survey was a request from SLAAC, and Santo said the survey, which is being handled by Student Affairs, will ask students a little bit of everything, from opinions on locally grown and organic food to vegan and vegetarian requests. Santo said changes will be seen in the future as they continue to try to meet SLAAC's requests.
"I think we're taking a step in the right direction, and people need to accept that," Breitinger said.
"Our whole focus is going in that direction," said director of dining services Steve Santo, adding that locally grown food will be added first, followed by organic.
Currently, the Prairie Farms milk and Scholar's Inn bread are from local vendors. Santo said the University is still in the process of finding a local vendor for the rest of the food and believes students will see much more locally grown food in the early fall.
SLAAC's letter asked for 20 percent of food to be organic and locally grown for the first two years, after which the percent would increase to 35. Santo doesn't find a problem with meeting this criteria. Santo said he will come to a solution soon, as dining services has already begun to move in that direction.
"It's an evolution," he said. "We have a timeline and so do they."
Junior Alex Breitinger said he realizes that increasing organic and locally grown food will not be met favorably by everyone.
"From a practical standpoint, it's going to increase cost, which will increase Hub prices even more," Breitinger said. "[But] it's our responsibility as citizens of this world to start eating responsibly, which means we can't be importing apples from Washington State when we [have options nearby]."
Several environmentally friendly changes have already been made this academic year. Real dishes and ecofriendly napkins have been added, and ecofriendly chemicals are now used. Vegetarian and vegan needs have also been considered in new buffet bar options.
Santo says it has not been very successful, but added, "We're going to give it time."
Dining services is trying to meet with students to gauge interest in vegetarian or vegan options. They also hope for feedback through a survey, which is expected to go out campus wide in about a month, Santo said.
The survey was a request from SLAAC, and Santo said the survey, which is being handled by Student Affairs, will ask students a little bit of everything, from opinions on locally grown and organic food to vegan and vegetarian requests. Santo said changes will be seen in the future as they continue to try to meet SLAAC's requests.
"I think we're taking a step in the right direction, and people need to accept that," Breitinger said.
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