Student Food Co-Op to begin grocery service in Kerckhoff
The USAC Election Board’s office space in Kerckhoff Hall will be used as the location of the student food co-op. (Owen Emerson/Daily Bruin senior staff)
By Evolet Chiu
May 5, 2016 12:34 a.m.
Students will be able to pick up groceries from campus by December, after the undergraduate student government unanimously voted Tuesday to establish a student food co-op in Kerckhoff Hall.
The Student Food Co-Op is a food security resource center that will host the UCLA Student Food Collective, a project that aims to provide students with local and sustainable food, said USAC President Heather Rosen.
Students will be able to order groceries online and pick up the food at the co-op, Rosen said at a meeting in February. The co-op will be located in Kerckhoff 519, a communal office space the USAC Election Board uses during election season. She added the space was larger than she expected and will be sufficient for the new food co-op.
Rosen said she decided to pursue the co-op because some students do not have guaranteed access to food on campus. She added the collective will also hold workshops with students about food security.
“We wanted to have a space on campus and show there is effort being made to promote the campus culture of inclusivity and understanding of food security,” Rosen said.
In February, Rosen’s office identified a space in Ackerman Union, previously occupied by Tsunami, as a potential location for the co-op, but Associated Students UCLA officials said that location will be used for another project.
Rosen said she chose to house the co-op in Kerckhoff because it is a central location that could increase its accessibility to students. She added Election Board and the student food co-op can coordinate to find a way to use the space together.
Election Board Chair Lindsay Allen said she is not sure how sharing the space with the co-op would be feasible when the Election Board holds private meetings. She added the Election Board has access to confidential information about candidates, and the security of the private documents may be jeopardized.
Allen said she is also concerned about sharing the space because not all election board staffers can fit into the office at once, and the office has a recurring ant problem because cleaning services do not extend to the fifth floor.
