Students campaign for slave-free chocolate on campus
Marieke van der Vaart
Issue date: 2/4/10 Section: News
A week before Valentine's Day, a group of Hillsdale College students is talking about chocolate.
But not in a "Women need the substance to live" way. For these students, chocolate and slavery are related in a way that isn't funny.
A group of self-styled abolitionist students is working on Hillsdale College's campus to introduce Fair Trade Chocolate at A.J.'s Café and Jitters Coffee Cart to reduce child slavery.
Sophomore Drew French said World Vision International estimates that 70 percent of the world's chocolate comes from West Africa, a region rife with forced child labor.
As international media reports have uncovered trafficking rings and deplorable working conditions, people have increased demand for Fair Trade brand chocolate: chocolate that guarantees a fair fee to farmers and no child labor in the production process.
World Vision coordinated a country-wide effort to lobby major chocolate companies to insure that their chocolate products sold in England and Australia were made in humanitarian conditions. Beginning last month, Cadbury's products in both countries were guaranteed to be Fair Trade.
Now, French and other students across the country are trying to put the same kind of pressure on Hershey's and Mars to offer the same kind of product options in the United States - beginning with Hillsdale's campus.
French talked to A.J.'s Café supervisor Lisa Beasley to see whether or not Saga, Inc., might offer the more expensive Fair Trade brands as alternatives to the main-line Mars and Hershey products.
Beasley said she still had to look into the product options before she could bring the proposal to Saga management, but that she was open to student suggestions for new products.
One drawback of the Fair Trade Chocolate is cost. French said the higher cost is worth it, for two reasons.
"One, it's the morally right thing to do," French said. "Two, it's the more satisfying product."
French and freshman Alessandro Pia said the campaign for Fair Trade Chocolate is different from past campaigns. It will still raise awareness for the fight against slavery, but it asks a different kind of commitment from students, Pia said.
"Donations are one-time things," Pia said. "It's awesome but then it'll stop there. With something like buying Fair Trade chocolate, it's a lifestyle thing."
As with any lifestyle choice, Pia said, choosing to support Fair Trade chocolate requires commitment and sacrifice.
"It's a matter of discipline and going out of your way to say slavery is wrong," Pia said.
As the culmination of the campaign, French said Delta Tau Delta fraternity will be bringing an International Justice Mission speaker to campus on April 16.
But not in a "Women need the substance to live" way. For these students, chocolate and slavery are related in a way that isn't funny.
A group of self-styled abolitionist students is working on Hillsdale College's campus to introduce Fair Trade Chocolate at A.J.'s Café and Jitters Coffee Cart to reduce child slavery.
Sophomore Drew French said World Vision International estimates that 70 percent of the world's chocolate comes from West Africa, a region rife with forced child labor.
As international media reports have uncovered trafficking rings and deplorable working conditions, people have increased demand for Fair Trade brand chocolate: chocolate that guarantees a fair fee to farmers and no child labor in the production process.
World Vision coordinated a country-wide effort to lobby major chocolate companies to insure that their chocolate products sold in England and Australia were made in humanitarian conditions. Beginning last month, Cadbury's products in both countries were guaranteed to be Fair Trade.
Now, French and other students across the country are trying to put the same kind of pressure on Hershey's and Mars to offer the same kind of product options in the United States - beginning with Hillsdale's campus.
French talked to A.J.'s Café supervisor Lisa Beasley to see whether or not Saga, Inc., might offer the more expensive Fair Trade brands as alternatives to the main-line Mars and Hershey products.
Beasley said she still had to look into the product options before she could bring the proposal to Saga management, but that she was open to student suggestions for new products.
One drawback of the Fair Trade Chocolate is cost. French said the higher cost is worth it, for two reasons.
"One, it's the morally right thing to do," French said. "Two, it's the more satisfying product."
French and freshman Alessandro Pia said the campaign for Fair Trade Chocolate is different from past campaigns. It will still raise awareness for the fight against slavery, but it asks a different kind of commitment from students, Pia said.
"Donations are one-time things," Pia said. "It's awesome but then it'll stop there. With something like buying Fair Trade chocolate, it's a lifestyle thing."
As with any lifestyle choice, Pia said, choosing to support Fair Trade chocolate requires commitment and sacrifice.
"It's a matter of discipline and going out of your way to say slavery is wrong," Pia said.
As the culmination of the campaign, French said Delta Tau Delta fraternity will be bringing an International Justice Mission speaker to campus on April 16.
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