SA R65 (2014-2015): Developing and Funding a Student Run Grocery Store

Other Communication

• Resolution:
  SA R65 (2014-2015): Developing and Funding a Student Run Grocery Store
• Day:
  June 9, 2015
• Action:
  Other Communication
• Summary / Notes:

  Response from M. Stefanko

• File Attachments:
• Text Attachment:

  Sent: Tuesday, June 09, 2015 12:31 PM
  To: Office of the President
  Cc: Sarah Emily Balik; OA-ACTIONS-L; Emma Leigh Johnston; Juliana Rose Batista; Susan Hills Murphy; Kent Lovering Hubbell; Robert Howard Hendricks; Laurel Fry Moffat
  Subject: Re: [oa-actions-l] Student Assembly Resolution 65
  
  Dear President Skorton,
  
  Thank you for taking the time to respond to Resolution 65. However, as students who have poured countless hours into addressing this very real issue on campus since January 2014, Emma and I have to admit that we are both frustrated and disheartened by this seemingly haphazard response.
  
  First, while I appreciate your philosophic support for addressing food insecurity, what motivated both Emma and I from the start was the fact that your administration had previously taken inadequate action to address this widespread problem. The assumption that increasing financial aid or implementing weekly lunches effectively solves the root problem of food insecurity is wanting when numbers from the PULSE survey indicate 22% of students are struggling to eat at an Ivy League University. While a working group of staff, administration, and faculty was created years ago to address this issue, it later dissolved. I don't necessarily expect action surrounding this issue given the numerous other initiatives you work on, but standing in the way of students who are working to address it seems counterproductive and unnecessary.
  
  Second, it is confusing that you indicate both the necessity of the working group's approval as well as concern over the long-term viability of a plan that intimately involves the working group in addressing the issues you brought up. It shows that there is a misunderstanding with regards to the the intent and implications of the resolution itself. This resolution calls for allowing a working group the ability to decide whether or not to give initial funding for the grocery store, which you seem to be in consonance with. However, because this resolution has been rejected, the working group's authority is now defunct. With this response, you have prevented the incoming Vice President of Campus Life, the Dean of Students, numerous members of the Office of Financial Aid, and multiple students who have been involved in the Financial Aid Review Committee from having authority on this matter - indicating that you alone have the expertise to interpret the best way to address food insecurity. If this was the case, we cannot help but wonder why this administration has not came up with a solution already.
  
  There doesn't seem to be any belief that the working group could not appropriately address the concerns you outlined. If you believe these are the only concerns needed to be addressed, you should allow them the responsibility to determine whether or not we've adequately addressed them, and you should give them the power to either approve or disapprove of the legislation. While we recognized that a decision to move such a large sum of money should not be taken lightly, the administrators in the working group from Campus Life, the Dean of Student's Office, and the Office of Financial Aid are selected for their jobs with the implied responsibility of being stewards of this university. If we can be sure that they take their positions seriously, then we can give them our faith that they will only approve a plan that resolves your basic concerns.
  
  Additionally, I find your question regarding the long-term viability of this operation to be entirely problematic. The campus dining monopoly seems to have no problem continually starting and stopping operations that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, but a proposal by students, for students, using students' money and the same project managers and laborers requires consideration by every single member of your administration. We would guess that this level of intricate investigation was not taken when placing Bus Stop Bagels in the failed Trillium Express location (a renovation that was more expensive than this one would be).
  
  As one of the authors of the plan, I can assure you that no assumptions regarding fundraising exist and that our projections indicate a grocery store with subsidies would be viable regardless of proposed capital campaigns; an approach your administration and the previous administration didn't even follow when constructing many of Cornell's newest buildings. It doesn't make sense and it makes me question the intensity with which you analyzed the projections that were sent to you by Rob (not Bob as your office seems to believe is his name).
  
  Most importantly, I wonder why your concern for this store appears now and not much earlier. Many members of your staff were well aware of the issue of food insecurity and the impending legislation that began work in October after months of campus research in the previous semester - Vice President Murphy even lauded its work at your last meeting with the Student Assembly - and yet it took you a complete 30 days to respond with a seemingly minimal understanding of the resolution itself. No clarification questions were asked to any of the sponsors or members of the team. This comes despite Rob and Laurel presenting themselves to you to answer any questions and/or concerns you might have had. If you believe problems exist as substantially as they do, I would hope to see a response greater than three paragraphs to a 50-page business plan, numerous emails, and Excel documents.
  
  Finally, I'm thoroughly disheartened although not surprised by the line that indicates, "funds to address food insecurity should the model to address that be somewhat different than you now envision." Despite hours of conversations with students whom have indicated this approach is most appropriate, as well as well-developed arguments against alternatives, you still are in disbelief that this is the most effective response. Student-run grocery stores and food cooperatives exist on the UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, Humboldt State, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, UC Santa Barbara, UC Los Angeles, Pitzer College, Lewis and Clark, Evergreen State, University of Washington, University of British Columbia, University of Delaware, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, University of Maryland College Park, SUNY Binghamton, Hampshire, University of Massachusetts, and Georgetown campuses. These stores often provide an affordable option for students.
  
  What truly sets our model apart from a regular grocery store is its educational mission, which was completely ignored in your response, despite the fact that we so frequently laud our alignment with an "Engaged Cornell" when approaching and creatively solving social ills. We will provide the resources to teach students about nutritious eating, how to buy in bulk, and how to use the ingredients in our store to cook on their own. It offers the chance to empower students to make their own meals instead of simply providing prepared goods or unhealthy snacks. Students who work on the grocery store’s Executive Board will gain first-hand small business, accounting, supply chain, and project management experience. Student architects and designers have already worked to create the store's blueprints with the store's social mission and the challenge of creating something big in a very small space in mind. Students are busy even in the summer developing food programming and cooking classes, gaining invaluable experience in community engagement and the chance to bring information they learn in nutrition and dietetics courses far beyond the classroom. What excites us most about this project is that it will - and already has - acted as a living and learning unit that brings together students interested in an endless diversity of disciplines from business to social justice to community engagement, nutrition, agriculture, culinary arts, education, interior design, and marketing.
  
  I've sat on the Assembly for three years now and have looked student activists, your administration, and the general student body in the eye and told them that the shared governance process works and change is possible through these institutionalized means. However, when a solution to a significant problem is rejected with so few words, despite the most significant amount of student engagement on an issue that I have ever seen, I question whether or not the administration has complete and ultimate power over the student experience. It makes me question whether significant change can ever come from the Assembly unless it is already present within the administration's agenda. I understand the harshness and length of my message, but it comes after a meeting in May in which members overwhelmingly supported the legislation and food insecure students from the community applauded the work that was being done. Although I expect a grocery store to exist within the next year, all I can say right now is that both you and I failed those students once again.
  
  Kind regards,
  Matthew