Sprinkled across college campuses, food cooperatives are often tucked away in the far corner of the student union behind glowing signs for McDonald's and Taco Bell. Walls that encase hand-painted murals and the lithe scent of incense often go largely unnoticed to the majority of the university population.
What most don't know is that behind the alternative - and at times, anarchical exterior - a lot of college food co-ops are rolling up their sleeves both in the kitchen and in the community to raise awareness about such issues as healthy eating habits and sustainability.
Food co-cops became popular at the end of the '60s and early '70s as an alternative, healthy dining option.
The food co-op at the University of Maryland, started in 1975, is a direct result of the grassroots student activism popular at the time.
The food co-op's original lease only allowed the sale of lunch food items such as sandwiches. In November 1976, the university's refusal to allow the food co-op to expand to sell grocery items prompted organized boycotts and picketing throughout the Student Union, according to an article from The Diamondback, an independent student newspaper.
The paper reported that police patrolled the union, but no arrests were made.
By 1980, though, the dispute between the co-op and university officials had subsided, and the co-op was moved to a larger location in the basement of the union where it stocked its shelves with grocery items.
Though traditionally politically active and environmentally conscious, some food co-ops located on campuses are expanding their horizons as universities begin to offer curriculum directly correlating to co-op causes such as sustainability and eco-friendliness, enabling co-ops to interact with other students and faculty and raise awareness and interest for their causes.
The University of California school system sponsors the California Student Sustainability Coalition, an organization that offers programs "for the purpose of uniting students to fight for a sustainable University of California," according to the coalition's Web site.
Education for Sustainable Living Program - one of the programs sponsored by CSSC offered at the state universities in Santa Cruz, Los Angeles, Davis, Santa Barbara, San Diego and Berkeley - is an opportunity for students to listen to guest lecturers and participate in action research teams that conduct experiments about their topic of choice.
"A lot of classes are always theorizing everything, but the action research teams and speakers teach you a lot about life experiences," said Jesse Lee, a senior environmental studies major at UC Santa Cruz who's been involved with ESLP for two years.
In addition to helping coordinate the program last spring, Lee participated in the socially sustainable community and the sustainable gardening action research teams.
The class showed Lee how as a group "we're able to actually start changing our behavior and our actions in daily life to make us more sustainable," he said.
The food co-op at the State University of New York at Binghamton is working with Jennifer Wegmann, who teaches a nutrition class at the university, to create extra credit opportunities for students who volunteered in the co-op kitchen. Within the next year, they said they also hope to offer an independent internship with help from Wegmann.
The programs would create more volunteers in the kitchen while offering students a fun and unique way to get credit.
"It really benefits everyone," said Dan Africk, a senior environmental studies major who is one of seven coordinators at the co-op.
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