On Monday, April 18th, 2016, the UMBC SGA Senate passed the Just Food resolution that supports the Real Food Campus commitment. Just Food has been working the past two years to establish Real food on campus and is looking to establish a relationship with student government in order to reflect the student voice at UMBC.  

Real food is defined as local, organic, humane, and fair. Just Food UMBC stances are:

Purpose: To promote a sustainable and just food system at UMBC by connecting our campus dining to the local agricultural community.

Goal: By 2020, reallocate 20% of our University food budget to food that is organically grown without harmful chemicals, located within 250 miles of our campus, operate on fair trade agreements, and/or raise and kill animals humanely. Provide students with the agency to work with UMBC dining services to maintain these new standards.

The national average for campuses for Real food is 3-7%. 20% is negotiable and hinges on the results of the invoice audit. While the earliest the audit could be concluded is the end of Fall 2016, we will also have a helpful estimate through Towson’s team at the end of Spring 2016. Towson is also a Chartwells school. We are hoping with our efforts along with this resolution of student support to aid us in acquiring the dining audit in order to move forward in our goal of 20% Real Food on campus. 

The resolution shows support to Just Food’s initiative and creates solidarity among student body. This resolution along with survey responses from Just Food and building relationships with Dining Services will enable us to move forward and urge President Freeman Hrabowski to sign the Real Food Campus commitment. 

The Senate would like to thank Senator Rebecca Postowski for her work drafting this resolution.