Published October 14, 2009
by afdubreu
The following appeared in the Wednesday, October 7, 2009 edition of Excalibur:
A recent symposium critically examined the sustainability of York University’s purchasing policies as well as campus food options, finding that students are dissatisfied with York’s food choices.
The Sept. 24 symposium called “Sustainable Purchasing Policies: Developing and Implementing Living Documents,” brought together various stakeholders such as purchasing
managers, administrators and students from York, as well as from other universities and organizations.
The symposium focused on the purchasing policies of goods in universities.
It was put together by Darryl Reed, associate professor in the department of social science, and J.J. McMurtry, assistant professor and coordinator of the business and society
program at York.
Some of the questions under discussion included whether or not goods were exchanged fairly, whether or not sweatshop labour was used in the production of the goods and whether or not they were environmentally friendly, among others.
The symposium also introduced a series of concerns and solutions about the sustainable purchasing policies at York. One of its co-sponsors, the Institute for Research & Innovation in Sustainability (IRIS), began looking at the range and types of food on campus in the summer of ’08.
IRIS released their findings at the symposium in their report “Examining Campus Food Sustainability at York University.” They discovered that not only do students have very few food options, but many are also oblivious to what is available.
“What we found is that generally students want more organic food, they want more local food, they want more vegetarian food,” said Annette Dubreuil, coordinator of IRIS.
“We were surprised that 40 percent of the population [including students] only eats meat five or less times a week,” she continued.
“When you look around campus, the quality of the food doesn’t reflect the need of students because, although we find a lot of vegetarian burgers and salads, we don’t find much variety in the vegetarian food that is available, including more diverse and nutritious vegetarian meals,” she said.
Many members of the York community also expressed their dissatisfaction with the amount of trash produced by food services.
“York should have a standard policy that would govern campus food service operations,” said Dubreuil.
IRIS recommends better coordination within the food service operations on campus in order to support the implementation of sustainable practices to a much higher degree.
The symposium demonstrated the concerns and issues that many organizations and institutions face when implementing a policy of purchasing goods.
“I believe that students in any institutional setting need to educate themselves on the ethics of the goods they purchase at school and at home,” said McMurtry.
“Students have a long history of leading positive social, political and economic change. Purchasing policies are no different.”
- To view “Examining Campus Food Sustainability at York University,” which includes students’ ideas on sustainable purchasing policies regarding food and waste, visit
www.irisyorku.ca/projects/food
Posted in: IRIS News | Sustainability News
