Slow to sprout: Students’ food co-op still planting seeds of progress
Mirrah Stoller can describe her dream with three words: ‘Local, fresh and organic.’
Her dream? A food co-op at Syracuse University that would bring local farms’ organic produce and other goods for students to purchase. A group of students formed the SU/State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry co-op to make this dream a reality.
However, the New Student Organization Recognition Committee denied the SU/ESF co-op’s proposal to become an official recognized student organization. This has not slowed down or discouraged Stoller, a sophomore filmmajor who remains passionate about what a food co-op could offer the university.
The idea originated from SU alumnus Scott Colliso, who wrote an op-ed column for The Daily Orange about the inaccessibility of co-ops in the area and encouraged the establishment of a student-run SU co-op. A senior at the time, he passed on his dream to the enthusiastic Stoller, who has been running the SU/ESF co-op student group since last spring.
Co-ops are not foreign to Stoller. Originally from Olympia, Wash., Stoller said she grew up at her local co-op.
‘It would be like bringing a piece of home here,’ she said. ‘I was raised by a bunch of righteous hippies who are very into community, art, peace and fighting anything that gets in the way of those values.’
Making this dream a reality has been challenging. According to an email, the committee that has prevented the SU/ESF co-op from starting is concerned about ‘logistically, how the structure of the grocery store would appear on campus’ and ‘licensing issues using both Syracuse and ESF’s mascot.’
Stoller said they were planning to call the co-op ‘Oakie and Otto.’ They weren’t planning on using the actual logos, but Michelle Molloy, an ESF graduate food systems major, made watercolors of the two mascots to advertise the co-op.
Louis Traino, an undeclared freshman in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, said he would only shop at a co-op if it were in a convenient location.
‘That’s not something I would really go out of my way for,’ he said.
The committee didn’t deny the concept of a student-run co-op, said Caroline Savage, who works closely with the group and runs a series of seminars and dinners through Hendricks Chapel called Ethics of Eating. The root of the rejection was in the actual application form itself.
‘This group will go through the struggle of learning to speak the language of the RSO office, and they will become stronger for it,’ said Savage, environmental studies graduate student at The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. ‘As long as there are enough students to support this effort, it will be successful.’
Stoller said she is planning on applying again next year. In the meantime, they will focus on the entrepreneurship aspect of starting a co-op and gathering more members. Although she doesn’t doubt student interest when it comes to purchasing at a co-op store, getting people to actually work at it is potentially challenging.
‘It’s a lot. We need more people who can dedicate more time to this,’ she said.
And it will be a lot of work, Stoller said. She plans to have a rating system accompany the food sold at the SU/ESF co-op, with information such as where the food is from, its quality and whether it is organic. She calls this the co-op’s ‘ethical standards.’
When it snows for four months straight during the school year, Stoller said, they would sell wintergreens, vegetables available in the winter such as chard and kale. Getting food imported is also an option. Although, ideally, a co-op would only serve local products, she said, in winter they would have to go for the next best thing. She said the main goal is to get people thinking about what they are eating.
‘Letting people make their own choices,’ she said. ‘That’s what this is about.’
Such choices, she said, are limited at the SU dining halls.
‘I don’t like feeling pressure to always eat in the dining hall and eat all of their food constantly because I’m being charged about $16 per meal every day. It’s messed up, especially if we don’t even know exactly where that food’s coming from.’
Lynne Mowers, secretary to the director at SU Food Services, wrote in an email, ‘We purchase local products, including produce, when they are available through local distributors. Our growing season is limited in Central New York, so we are not able to purchase locally grown produce most of the year.’
Mowers also said forming a student-run co-op would be a major undertaking and time commitment. She suggested students utilize what’s already here, like the Syracuse Real Food co-op and the South Campus Express store.
Though the SU/ESF co-op store won’t be cropping up this year, it is something for future students to look forward to.
‘It might be too late for our parent’s generation to rethink the way they eat,’ Savage said. ‘But college students have the chance to be exposed to real food that comes from the earth, to experience how good it is and to question what they are eating.’
Published on October 26, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Contact Sarah: seschust@syr.edu
