April 2005

CAMPUS NEWS

The hot topic of conversation over coffee on campus has been none other than the beloved drink itself this month. At issue: Who would take the space in Mary Graydon Center currently occupied by the soon-departing Auntie Anne's pretzel company.

On Friday, April 1, students passionate about fair-trade practices clashed with Starbucks representatives at a campus meeting over the company's bid for the space in MGC. Following the meeting, on April 3, the Residence Hall Association voted 12-1 to endorse Pura Vida coffee company over Starbucks, the two companies under consideration by AU to join other food vendors in busiest building on campus.

Interestingly, both brands are already offered on campus. MegaBytes Café serves Starbucks coffee, while Pura Vida is affiliated with Bon Appetit, AU's primary food contractor, and offered daily in TDR.

The discussion focused on the merits of fair-trade practices versus free-trade, a difference which may seem unclear to the average aromatic coffee drinker, but became increasingly evident to socially conscious members of the AU community - and those who follow world agriculture and economics.

Fair-trade companies, like Pura Vida, pay coffee farmers a living wage, a base price that covers the cost of production and ensures that farmers make a profit, at a time when coffee prices are the lowest they have been in years, said Casey McNeill, cofacilitator of Community Action and Social Justice, a campus group favoring Pura Vida. Most coffee companies sell the coffee at prices that are lower than the cost of growing and harvesting it, she explained.

Starbucks, however, is a free-trade company, which means the market sets the price of its coffee, affecting the wages received by coffee farmers and growers. Starbucks recently started a "social responsibility" campaign and now offers Fair Trade Certified coffee in 23 countries, according to its Web site. According to the company's annual Corporate Social Responsibility Report, fair-trade coffee made up 1.6 percent of Starbucks' total coffee purchases in 2004.

Junior Joe Gallina, a political science major, noted at the RHA meeting that having a Starbucks would help prospective and new students feel more comfortable by offering a brand name coffee. “They want to see familiar places," he said.

Freshman Travis McArthur, an international studies major, and a member of the Movement for Global Justice, disagreed. "I think we're a different type of university. The type of student we're drawing is more concerned with social responsibility."

Pura Vida coffee is 100 percent fair trade, and the company ensures that profits go back to the communities where the coffee is grown, McArthur said. The Movement for Global Justice collected more than 1,000 signatures and 600 signed letters from students affirming that they supported Pura Vida because of its commitment to social responsibility.

Only about one percent of all coffee grown is fair trade, and Starbucks apparently buys 25 percent to a 33 percent of it in North America, purchasing 4.8 million pounds of fair trade coffee last year, and intending to buy 10 million pounds next year - 20 times more than what Pura Vida buys, said Steve Schickler, president of Seattle Coffee Company (owned by Starbucks Corporation).

At press time, however, President Benjamin Ladner released an announcement to the entire AU community that following much consideration, he had made his decision.

"I believe the choice presents a felicitous congruence of American University’s institutional values and another opportunity to translate those values into a demonstrated public responsibility," said Dr. Ladner said in a statement on April 27. "In my view, that responsibility presently aligns more closely with the business and social practices of Pura Vida. Therefore, we will begin immediately to work with Pura Vida to build out the Mary Graydon space for a full-service Pura Vida shop to begin operations as soon as possible."

Dr. Ladner also expressed his appreciation for "the high-level dialogue" on campus over the past few weeks in which the companies themselves and advocates for both sides had fair and open discussions.

Of course, it's not like anyone on campus was ever going without their precious cup-O-joe: There are multiple locations on campus that sell coffee already, including Einstein Brothers Bagels, McDonald’s, Wagshal’s, and the SIS Davenport Lounge. There are also three Starbucks located within walking distance from campus: one across from the Washington College of Law on Massachusetts Avenue, one near the Nebraska Avenue parking lot on New Mexico Avenue, and one next to the Tenleytown Metro Station on Wisconsin Avenue.

Still, student surveys and special focus groups conducted during the 2003-2004 academic year indicated students wanted either a drugstore or a coffee shop on campus, said Housing and Dining Executive Director Julie Weber. Although the drugstore idea was most popular, it was rejected because the university doesn't have the base population needed to sustain a drugstore year-round, and therefore, neither CVS nor Rite Aid wanted to set up shop on campus, said Weber. The No. 2 choice was a coffee shop.

Now that the great coffee debate has been settled, the next question should be simpler to answer: Would you like cream or sugar with that?

-Ashley Ferrell '07

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