On April 22, the Carleton Student Association Senate (CSA) unanimously passed SP25#1: Resolution In Support of a Summer Food Pantry for Summer Student Employees. The resolution has been in the works for multiple terms, as a collaborative effort between Interfaith Social Action (IFSA) and CSA.
The resolution aims to combat the longstanding issue of food insecurity faced by students staying on campus over the summer. Currently, the only option for students facing food insecurity is the Carleton Cupboard, a food pantry for students facing financial hardship and difficulty accessing food that only operates during the academic year. To fix this lack of food access during the summer, CSA and IFSA proposed a food shelf, similar to the Carleton Cupboard, hosted in the Chapel lounge and with support from Northfield Community Action Center (CAC). CSA offered up to $50,000 in funding for the program; however, CSA awaits approval from the Dean of Students office before the project can be funded and implemented.
Juan Garcia Reyes ’26, a member of IFSA and a CSA senator, has been at the forefront of the project. “I think there’s been groundwork from years past that I sort of jumped in on,” said Garcia Reyes. “I think my advocacy started over the summer, when I was reaching out to faculty letting them know that [there was] food insecurity.” He said he reached out to multiple Carleton deans, and did not receive as much support as he was hoping for.
“They were all sympathetic listeners, but no promises were ever made, no real resources were pointed to,” said Garcia Reyes. “The more I dug through things, the more I came to realize that we’re not supposed to be food insecure. Even if you are, you’re not supposed to say it. You’re not supposed to be a problem, because that’s not what Carleton students are. It’s a matter of principle that they don’t help out students.”
This fall, Garcia Reyes brought this issue to CSA. One of the first steps towards a solution came from a survey conducted through CSA about food insecurity, emailed to the student body in the fall.
The survey, which received 244 responses, revealed that 41.3% of the students who stayed on campus over the summer experienced food insecurity during that time, and 51% of the students who stayed on campus over spring and/or winter break also experienced food insecurity. The survey also gathered student testimonials, which ranged from students that said that their financial situation allowed them to not face food insecurity to students that expressed that they were often hungry over the summer on campus.
“During the initial stages of this project, we surveyed students to gauge their understanding of the impact of food insecurity and identify who was being affected,” read a statement from the CSA Executive Board to the Carletonian. “As the cost of living increases and other financial concerns impact students on our campus, we hope to help in any way we can, including addressing food insecurity on campus.”
As Chaplain’s Associate and IFSA leader Sophie Stein ’26 said, the survey “really kickstarted a lot of the energy and momentum around this issue, and shortly after that, IFSA got involved.”
“We spent a lot of last term brainstorming, meeting with other people, and we had a big forum with faculty, staff and students all coming together,” said Stein, “because we knew those conversations were happening all across those groups but not necessarily in the same place.”
Stein said that having a way to discuss the issue of food insecurity with a larger group of the Carleton community was a meaningful event, and allowed for more work to be done in terms of the CSA resolution.
“I think it’s a collective effort at this point,” said Garcia Reyes. “IFSA joined in, they helped organize the public forum last term, and right now they’re doing a lot of work rallying faculty and staff who are interested, circulating a letter in support of the resolution that just passed in CSA.”
Though CSA and IFSA have led the charge on this issue, support for addressing food insecurity has come from across campus, including faculty members. Sonja Anderson, a professor in the religion department, is one of the faculty members supporting the cause.
“I got involved last summer when I took several of my students grocery shopping with my own money,” said Anderson. “They couldn’t afford groceries and were eating once a day. I’m Filipino, so it’s deeply ingrained in me that when someone’s hungry, you feed them. It’s as easy as that. I also grew up poor and was poor most of my life, so this is a no-brainer for me.”
Garcia Reyes expressed gratitude for the generosity of faculty members such as Anderson, though with hesitancy that this philanthropy should not become the norm.
“It should not be their responsibility. It should not,” said Garcia Reyes. “I’m close with a lot of professors, so it wouldn’t make me feel overly uncomfortable … but I worry more for the first-years and second-years that might not have those close connections yet.”
College Chaplain Rev. Schuyler Vogel is another faculty member who has been supporting the cause, particularly IFSA, which is run through the Office of the Chaplain.
“Ideally, in a just system, people’s basic needs don’t depend upon having to ask,” said Vogel. “Basic needs are just offered and provided.”
Within the resolution, CSA said that they are willing to financially support the project with up to $50,000. CSA President Vivian Agugo ’26 said it would likely come from the CSA surplus fund, which consists of previously unaccounted-for funds and leftover money from COVID-19 years, and supports increasing funding requests.
However, the resolution’s unanimous passing is not the final step of the process. The resolution needs approval from the Dean of Students Office before it can become an official plan.
Both Garcia Reyes and Stein expressed frustration towards the Dean of Students Office, particularly Dean of Students Dean Livingston, as previous projects did not go through because the office did not approve the initiatives.
“My understanding is that Dean Livingston is the one who’s really fighting this, which seems like an odd choice to me,” said Stein. “Resources are not being asked of her. Staffing is not being asked of her. Support isn’t really even being asked of her, we’re mostly just looking for her to sort of get out of the way.”
Dean Livingston declined an interview with the Carletonian, stating that CSA president Agugo asked that the administration not comment on the resolution until further conversations could be held between the administration and CSA/IFSA, and so that CSA could get an update on admin’s previous response to their resolution in Fall ‘24. Agugo said that following upcoming meetings between CSA, IFSA and administration, responses will be sent from CSA and IFSA. Additionally, Dean Livingston said that she plans on responding to the resolution in the Carleton Today newsletter in the upcoming week.
Dean Livingston also recommended reviewing her previous response to a similar resolution passed by CSA to combat food insecurity from the fall, in which she suggested ways to address food insecurity other than the Carleton Cupboard, because it posed financial and logistical challenges. She said that the administration was looking to expand summer transportation options to grocery stores, and recommended that students use the summer meal plan.
However, Stein explained that these solutions are not an option for every student. “The dining meal plan is an extra cost that many students can’t afford,” she said. “There’s a lot of costs associated with staying at Carleton over the summer, and not necessarily a ton of income coming in for student workers because the college doesn’t pay such a competitive wage.”
Additionally, Garcia Reyes says that increased transportation options, such as a shuttle to more affordable grocery stores such as Aldi, would be “better than what we had last summer, which was nothing.” Garcia Reyes said that it doesn’t solve the problem. “It just felt like an idea to dismiss us.”
Because of this, IFSA and CSA continued their efforts past the fall term rejection to pass the current resolution, which they are hoping will go through.
Students from IFSA and CSA met with members of the administration on May 6 to discuss summer food insecurity, and what the future might look like for student workers staying on campus over the summer.
Stein was one of the IFSA members present for the discussion, and explained in a statement to the Carletonian that they primarily discussed other potential options the administration had to help combat food insecurity, such as transportation options, fresh vending machines, cooking classes and more appliances available in Myers Hall, where students will be living over the summer.
“These are all changes that are good, but they’re really not enough,” said Stein. “They start to address the issue of food insecurity by addressing some of the logistical barriers students face to accessing food over the summer, but offer really no solution for the financial challenges experienced by many students.”
Administrative response to the resolution is still up in the air, but IFSA and CSA are still determined to ensure there is support for students, particularly low-income students, over the summer.
“Our hopes for the project’s future are that we can expand the resources available to students in any way possible, including transportation, increasing advertisement of the DOSO emergency funding, advertising, and food assistance,” said the CSA executives in their statement to the Carletonian. “As the cost of living increases and other financial concerns impact students on our campus, we hope to help in any way we can, including addressing food insecurity on campus. We hope to gain more support from the administration on this matter to ensure that we are addressing this vital issue.”
Garcia Reyes is trying to stay hopeful about the upcoming summer, even if the resolution isn’t able to be implemented. “I’ll be here, and other students who have also been involved in this will also be here, so there’s at least some kind of grassroots organization to make sure students who need help can get connected to professors who are willing to help out or local community resources.”
Faculty members and staff — such as Vogel — are also continuing to support students’ efforts to combat food insecurity. “I think overall, when someone says ‘I’m hungry,’ it is best to err on the side of feeding them,” he said. “You know, God forbid we accidentally feed someone who doesn’t need free or reduced food.”
IFSA is planning to host another conversation between Carleton students, faculty and staff on Friday, May 23 to discuss next steps. As Garcia Reyes told the Carletonian after the last meeting, logistical concerns were addressed, but not financial concerns for low-income students, so IFSA is hoping for more steps to be taken to support food-insecure students.