This quarter has been a difficult one for food insecurity on campus. The food pantry, which was a student-initiated program on campus that previously fell under the purview of the Center for Regenerative Futures, has been gutted financially and now operates under Student Affairs and Inclusive Excellence.
Our food pantry has remained inoperable throughout the quarter, except for a couple of days when food bags were dealt out to those who waited in what has been described to me as a worryingly long line. One of the only resources on campus equipped to deal with hunger has remained pretty much non-existent for the past nine weeks, and there seems to be no valid reason as to why this is the case.
I have reached out to administrators and those in charge of running the food pantry, and the responses I have received show that they have failed to consider the immediate reality concerning those on campus who do not have enough to eat. They are quick to jump to the future, and instead have focused on promoting an image of what it will look like.
The Center for Regenerative Futures is an organization on campus that used to provide services to students such as the bike shop, gear garage, and even a thrift store, all of which are now closed indefinitely. The food pantry started under the center as well, and throughout its lifespan adapted to the needs of our community.
Throughout the last academic year, when the pantry was operable, they used a number of different models. The most popular was a grocery store model, where community members would be given a number of points to be spent on goods. Once that model failed to meet the needs of new budgetary restraints, they began handing out pre-packed bags with essential food items that were chosen according to input from those who used the pantry.
At its peak, over 30 people a week would utilize this resource, many of which were frequent and friendly faces. The food pantry even held community dinners every Friday, where people would sign up to act as the chef and request specialized ingredients that they otherwise would never get to use.
This gets us to another seemingly under-recognized aspect of the food pantry. There was a vibrant and beautiful community associated with it. Part of what this community building did was de-stigmatize food insecurity, creating friendships and common understandings around a phenomenon our privileged community has trouble comprehending.
Another important point to make about this community is that a majority were international graduate students. These are community members who do not have the same work opportunities as domestic students, all while paying more in tuition.
A couple of weeks ago I reached out to the university’s Chief Operating Officer, Julia Richman, as well as the person currently in charge of rebooting the Food Pantry, Brian Schreckinger. I asked them a series of questions, some tougher than others, because our community deserves answers as to why food insecurity has not been adequately addressed this quarter.
The response I received was from a different person. Jon Stone, the Director of Media Relations at this university, had apparently been delegated the task of dealing with my questions. A theme throughout the response centered around addressing what is being done to bring the food pantry back. A lot of these efforts require an increased workload and responsibility to be placed on both students and faculty.
“Paid staff has now been replaced with work-study graduate students and volunteers allowing for more funding to go directly to resources for students,” Stone said in his response.
This shows that, for one, there is an increasing expectation on behalf of our administration that students will be able to volunteer more of their time. Many students, especially those who are strapped for money, cannot afford to volunteer their time, meaning that being a part of these communities is not a possibility.
Secondly, how will this save our school money when our school cannot even fork out enough to keep the pantry alive until the restructuring is finalized? It is a nice thought that this would result in more funding going directly to resources, but there have been no resources for students at all this quarter, except for a couple of days when food bags were dealt out.
Regarding one of these days in October, I asked if it was concerning to them that the line was as long as it was and if they were doing anything to address the immediate food insecurity that the long line symbolized. The response I got to this question was troubling.
“The belief is that there was a long line because of the previous first come, first served model that existed with the Food Pantry. The pre-packed bag is more equitable for everyone and does not favor individuals who arrive before others and hopefully will reduce the lines during the second pickup,” Stone said.
A long line is not a reflection of a first come, first served model. People do not decide to show up to get food because they hear about how limited it is. If I hear that a particular restaurant only has a limited number of sandwiches, I am not going to show up just because of the fact that they are limited. I am going to show up because I want the sandwich.
A long line represents a high demand and nothing else. And when it comes to food insecurity, a high demand should be alarming no matter the nature of that demand. This is pretty straightforward, and their dancing around this fact shows that our administration understands that people in the present need food, and they are too scared to admit it.
The rest of the response I received consisted of an array of statistics showing that food insecurity is an increasing issue in this country along with showing how the previous model was unsustainable. Nothing in the response acknowledged immediate strategies to give food to those in need, and nothing showed me that our administration is taking food insecurity among our international graduate students seriously.
To be clear, the food pantry is inoperable right now because of a $60k budget shortfall. Around $20k has been raised through philanthropy, yet there are no signs that any of that money has been spent beyond the two days this quarter when food has been handed out. You would think we would spend this money until a supposedly more efficient model can be established, but apparently that’s just too much.
In the context of our $1 billion endowment, $60k is a drop in the bucket. In the context of our administrators’ salaries, $60k is still a drop in the bucket. And you would think that the urgency associated with food insecurity would pressure our leaders into reorganizing their priorities, but last Friday I was reminded yet again that these kinds of thoughts do not cross their minds.
This reminder came in an interview several Clarion writers and I had with Provost Mary Clark on Friday. The interview was focused on the recent staff firings as a result of a $11 million budgetary deficit. Eventually, I asked the question of whether salary cuts are on the table for those who make the most money at this school.
“Not at this time,” she answered.
“Is there a reason why?” I asked.
“The Chancellor explained that he wished to maintain the competitive compensation levels in order to hire the most competitive individuals into senior leadership,” she concluded.
But in terms of creating a competitive environment for prospective students, there seems to be little care at all. What is competitive about not giving a damn when it comes to food insecurity? What is competitive about letting our community members go hungry?
It is important to note that a competitive salary, at least in the way our provost and chancellor frame it, is supposed to result in better leadership. But all I have seen since I have been at this school is a deteriorating environment for students and employees, and, if anything, that is a reflection of the poor decisions senior leadership has made.
They have separated themselves from this community by separating themselves from the consequences of a budgetary crisis while expecting everyone else in this community to suffer instead. This is not what leaders do. This is what self-centeredness looks like. While people in this community starve, they refuse to let our school’s austerity measures touch their $250k plus salaries.
