Kudos to New Catholic Fair Trade Universities

Congratulations to Rockhurst University, University of Dayton, and St. John’s University for becoming Fair Trade Certified Universities during the past academic year!

Rockhurst University became the first Fair Trade University in Missouri in November. After years of hard work by the Rockhurst University Fair Trade Initiative raising awareness on campus, students are thrilled to be the first in the state. Gerald Moench, the University’s chief financial officer, commented that “it’s a reminder to our University community to always strive to move forward with ethics and our Jesuit commitment to social justice in mind.”

University of Dayton celebrated their designation as a Fair Trade University with a reception at the campus bookstore and a video documenting the event.

St. John’s University became a Fair Trade University in March. Executive vice president for Mission, Reverend Bernard M. Tracey, C.M., connects this resolution with University identity, saying “We are called as a Vincentian institution not only to respond to the needs of those marginalized in society, but to study, research and provide solutions to the root causes of poverty.”

To learn more on how your institution can become Fair Trade Certified, visit the Fair Trade Campaigns website.  To learn more about Fair Trade at ACCU institutions, visit our new webpage at www.accunet.org/FairTrade

Manhattan College Opens Student Run Fair Trade Store

Last spring, when students from Manhattan College’s School of Business were brainstorming potential group projects for the 2016-17 academic year, Dean Salwa Ammar, Ph.D. and Gwendolyn Tedeschi, Ph.D., brought up the idea of a student-run store focusing on selling fair trade products. A large group of students quickly embraced the idea and it has become a popular space for buying, selling and entrepreneurship in action.

The idea was a logical partnership of the School of Business’s innovative culture and the leadership of Campus Ministry and Social Action’s in the fair trade movement. In 2012, Manhattan College became the first Fair Trade Certified College in New York City. The fair trade store directly furthers this mission.

“We could’ve opened up a store and sold anything,” Aileen Farrelly ’95, assistant professor and assistant dean in the School of Business, said. “Fair trade embodies our Lasallian values, is critical to the College’s mission, and using fair trade products to launch this project helped our students learn about all aspects of running a business.”

 

Read the full story here.

Reflecting on World Oceans Day

Today, June 8, is World Oceans Day, founded in 2002 to celebrate, honor, help protect and conserve the oceans. Events in honor of World Oceans Day will occur across the globe.  For some, this holiday prompts reflection on the issues related to oceans, such as sustainability and human trafficking practices in the seafood industry.

Over the past two years, the Coalition of Catholic Organizations Against Human Trafficking has coordinated advocacy efforts to encourage seafood companies to eradicate human trafficking practices.  In 2016, the Coalition sponsored a postcard campaign, while in 2017 they focused on encouraging seafood companies who are cleaning up their supply chains to label their products.  Read more about this year’s project on their website.

In honor of World Oceans Day, Fair Trade USA has launched a campaign encouraging consumers to purchase seafood that is produced in an environmentally and socially responsible way.  Launched in 2014, their certification of seafood products allows consumers to make purchases that have been shown to meet rigorous standards for workers in the fishing industry.  Learn more about their work on their website.

How will your campus celebrate and reflect on World Oceans Day?  Let us know!

 

Celebrate World Fair Trade Day!

May 13 is the fifteenth annual celebration of World Fair Trade Day. Mark the day by hosting or attending an event or by enjoying a favorite Fair Trade product!

Ideas for events to celebrate fair trade are a film screening, bake sale, fair trade fashion show, or hosting a coffee hour. If you host an event in your community, register it with the Fair Trade Challenge or use the website to find an event to attend.  Fair Trade Federation also offers resources to spread education on fair trade on their website.

Living Our Values: Colleges Promote Fair Trade

As institutions inspired by faith, Catholic colleges and universities live their values in many ways, including through academic pursuits, business decisions, and student activities. One way Catholic colleges and universities reflect their mission to care for the poor and vulnerable throughout the world by protecting the rights of workers, upholding ethical economic practices and supporting sustainable environmental practices is through fair trade.

Fair trade is a designation placed on products to ensure that producers are paid a fair price for what they create by examining factors like price, labor conditions, sustainability, and community development. Carroll College and St. Norbert College are two examples of Catholic institutions that have successfully implemented different strategies to raise awareness for fair trade products and practices in creative ways.

Carroll College has promoted fair trade through academic courses, student life, and the Hunthausen Center for Peace and Justice. Fair trade principles and practices were introduced in the class “Theological Foundations,” part of Carroll’s core curriculum, as a case study during a unit on Catholic Social Teaching. Another course, “Market Research,” also examined the issue of fair trade through a research project on fair trade awareness in the community and on campus. Using research from this project, students from the Enactus student club, which focuses on developing business skills, designed a pocket-sized brochure on fair trade and Catholic Social Teaching, which also listed businesses in Helena selling fair trade products. More than 4,000 copies of the brochure were distributed across the Carroll and Helena communities. The student life department, with the Hunthausen Center, also sponsored a public fair trade market in the campus center where fair trade products were made available for purchase. Additionally, three “Fair Trade Friday” events featuring free samples of fair trade products and information on fair trade practices were held in the campus center, promoting greater awareness of the issue. These fair trade–focused projects were funded through the Global Solidarity Grant program, a collaborative program of ACCU and Catholic Relief Services that awards funding to Catholic colleges and universities to increase awareness of global injustice and expand student involvement in bringing about change. After signing a fair trade resolution, Carroll College became a Fair Trade certified university in 2016, the first university in Montana to be certified as such.

Another Global Solidarity Grant recipient, St. Norbert College, incorporated art into the discussion of fair trade. On exhibition in the Baer Gallery of the Bush Art Center was photographer Lisa Kristine’s work “Enslaved: A Visual Story of Modern Day Slavery.” St. Norbert hosted a reception with Catholic Relief Services called “Shine a Light” that used the powerful images on display to present a testimony of the need for change in the area of fair and ethical trade. Featured speaker Caroline Brennan, Senior Communications Officer at Catholic Relief Services, discussed the effects of fair trade programs around the world and how attendees could become involved. She also shared her own story and photographs as a member of the CRS emergency response team to an audience of faculty, students, and members of the local community. At the end of the reception, hundreds of postcards in support of the Business Supply Chain Transparency on Trafficking and Slavery Act were signed by visitors to the exhibit and reception attendees and given to representatives of Catholic Relief Services to send to Congressional representatives.

St. Norbert College students also run a fair trade business called Discoveries International. Run by international business students, Discoveries International sells fair trade items, such as jewelry, coffee, and tea, donating the profits to charities chosen by the group. For the 2016-2017 academic year, Discoveries International is donating to Feed My Starving Children, The Zambia Project, and Doctors without Borders. This business incorporates support for ethical markets with the teaching of management skills to students who are going to be involved in the international market.

Bring Fair Trade to Your Campus

Colleges and universities can connect with Catholic Relief Services Ethical Trade to help promote fair trade principles on their campus. CRS Ethical Trade provides academic resources that include various modules related specifically to incorporating fair trade and labor issues in the curriculum. In addition, they provide campus engagement materials, ranging from prayers to event ideas, that can help raise awareness on the issue of fair labor practices in the campus community. From their experience working with many campuses on promoting fair trade, CRS Ethical Trade tells success stories of Catholic colleges and universities that used the CRS Student Ambassador program to incorporate educational and faith formation resources into campus life while faculty offer academic modules in courses. In addition to these online resources, CRS staff members are available to present on ethical trade and its importance to the campus community.

Many Catholic universities also work with Fair Trade Campaigns to become a fair trade–certified university through their multi-step process. To start, a campus creates a team to support fair trade, who then reaches out to campus outlets to ensure a minimum of two fair trade products are available in campus-owned and -operated venues. The team works to grow the movement, using fair trade products at university meetings, events, and in university offices, and planning fair trade educational events or celebratory activities. The final step to certification is for the college or university to develop and pass a fair trade resolution. Fair Trade Campaigns has a toolkit available for ideas on how to meet these goals. As of February 2017, 21 Catholic colleges and universities are certified as fair trade institutions. ACCU provides more information on how to become a fair trade university, why Catholic institutions value fair trade, and additional creative ways to incorporate fair trade on campus on its Fair Trade webpage, where visitors can also download the Fair Trade and Catholic Higher Education brochure.

A rising number of Catholic colleges and universities are using their purchasing power as a way of expressing their Catholic mission by supporting the rights of workers to a fair wage and safe working conditions through fair trade items. Carroll College and St. Norbert College are engaging the issue of justice for workers, global solidarity with the poor and vulnerable, and care for creation through a variety of programs and awareness campaigns. By bringing together students through business practices, academic courses, and cultural events, these colleges are showing how fair trade practices in the daily workings of an institution can make a global impact.

Camilla MacKenzie is an undergraduate student at The Catholic University of America and the Peace and Justice Intern at the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities.

University of Dayton Celebrates Fair Trade Designation

Last month, the University of Dayton celebrated their designation as a fair trade university with an event at the university bookstore. Fair Trade Campaigns recognizes towns, colleges, universities, schools and congregations nationwide for  embedding fair trade practices and principles into policy.

The university signed a resolution over the summer agreeing to fair trade practices, stating: “The University, as a large-scale employer and consumer and leader in international education, fully endorses the national community’s call to ‘Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all’ and to ‘Ensure sustainable consumption and productive patterns’ as evidenced by the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 8 and 12) and sees supporting fair, ethical, and sustainable sourcing as an effective way to put these principles into practice.” In addition to the resolution, University of Dayton also offers fair trade products in each outlet on campus, sustains a group working on implementing fair trade strategies, serves fair trade products at University events, and commits to a fair trade education.

As University of Dayton Provost Paul Benson states “This aligns our practices with our Catholic, Marianist principles, and affirms our dedication to deepening these practices.” Watch the video celebrating the designation here.

Enter Fairtrade America’s Essay Contest

Are you a current college or university student who believes in the importance of fair trade?  If so, consider entering Fairtrade America’s back-to-school essay contest.

The judges of the contest will be Rick Peyster of Lutheran World Relief, Margarot Conover from Fairtrade America, and Suzi Hiza from Fair Trade Campaigns.  Winners’ essays will be published on Fair Trade Blog site, and the grand prize winner will have a chance to interview Rick Peyster for the blog.  Don’t delay – essays are due by September 15!

Fordham Becomes Latest Catholic Fair Trade University

The Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities extends its congratulations to Fordham University for being the latest Catholic university to be designated a Fair Trade University! Fordham students have worked hard to create Students for Fair Trade (SFT), the official fair trade student organization at Fordham, and to incorporate fair trade products into daily life at the university.

SFT is a student-run club that promotes fair trade in business and consumption through education and advocacy. Through SFT, Fordham has been able not only to sell fair trade products at almost all of their restaurants and bookstores, but also to host employees of Alta Gracia, the only garment company in the global south to be certified for paying its workers a living wage.

Congratulations to Fordham for their great work in promoting fair trade!

Fair Trade Your Summer!

This year, several Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities member institutions joined the ranks of Fair Trade Colleges and Universities! To help students and faculty of these institutions, as well as any promoters of fair trade products, continue consuming fair trade, Fair Trade USA has released a helpful guide for summer drinks and smoothies! From the Bhakti Chai Tropical Ginger Smoothie to the Honest Tea Peach Pick, their seven suggestions are sure to help you relax and enjoy your summer. Happy fair trading!

Register for the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s Student Summit

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education invites all students interested in promoting and enacting sustainability efforts at their campuses to join them for their annual Student Summit.  Taking place October 9-12, 2016, the Summit will give participants the opportunity to explore career options in sustainability and ways to enact concrete change on their campuses. Attendees will also be able to network and collaborate not only with peers, but also with professional leaders in sustainability, as well as sustainability activists.

Cosponsored by a host of organizations and initiatives such as The Campus Kitchens Project and Fair Trade Colleges and Universities, the Summit is sure to be a wonderful opportunity for students to learn and explore, and to grow in their leadership skills. Be sure to register by July 15, 2016! 

How does your college or university promote sustainability? Let us know!