Op-ed: Ending student hunger requires immediate action, UCLA administration’s commitment
A 2018 University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey revealed that 37% of UCLA students are food insecure, over one-third of the student body. While it is a nationwide issue and not entirely unique to UCLA, the university must prioritize putting an end to student hunger. (Daily Bruin file photo)
By Kristen Ventura
Jan. 7, 2020 11:32 p.m.
Imagine it’s finals week. You’re hustling to get a paper done by midnight, your schedule for tomorrow is to study for two different finals at the same time, and you’re doing five weeks’ worth of reading in two days.
Now imagine doing all of this hungry. Imagine that on top of worrying about your grades, you also have to worry about where your next meal is coming from.
Unfortunately, this is the reality that about one in three UCLA students faced at the end of last quarter.
According to the 2018 University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey, 37% of UCLA students are food insecure. Food insecurity is defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as “disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake.” This means that over one-third of the students at the No. 1 public university in the nation don’t have reliable access to a basic human need.
UCLA needs to make ending student hunger a priority.
It is not as though the school doesn’t have the resources to solve this. On average, college campuses waste about 142 pounds of food per student each year, according to RecyclingWorks Massachusetts. You can see some of this waste if you go to the tray drop-off station at any dining hall.
This is not to discredit the work of the multitude of organizations that are working to end hunger on campus. The Community Programs Office’s food closet, Swipe Out Hunger and CalFresh, among others, are working tirelessly to put food in the hands of hungry students, but this problem is impossible for any one organization to tackle. But there needs to be a committed effort from UCLA, and a comprehensive plan to feed that 37% left behind. Such a plan should include redirecting unused resources and increasing student awareness of these programs that exist to serve their needs.
Students across campus have started to call on our administration to act. In fact, the Undergraduate Students Association Council passed a resolution in April that calls for UCLA to end student hunger by 2025. California Public Interest Research Group’s “Zero Hunger” campaign has gathered 1,000 student petitions that call on Chancellor Gene Block to commit to ending hunger on campus.
This problem isn’t unique to UCLA. Student hunger is a nationwide issue. According to the UC Global Food Initiative, about 40% of all UC students are food insecure. A survey released in early May by Temple University’s Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice found that 45% of college students from over 100 institutions have experienced food insecurity in the past 30 days.
An article published by The New York Times details the struggles of students from various universities who struggle with being hungry in college. Jocelyn Chen, a student from Stony Brook University talks about the “poverty naps” she takes to escape her hunger pangs. Lehman College student Kassandra Montes says that her budget for food is $15 a week, and that she regularly skips breakfast so her 4-year-old son can eat. There are thousands of stories like Chen’s and Montes’ across American college campuses, and UCLA has the opportunity to pioneer the path to change.
If Block commits UCLA to end hunger on campus, we can be a champion of this issue – and, hopefully, spur a nationwide movement of colleges prioritizing food-insecure students.
The discourse surrounding college food insecurity can move from one of ramen jokes to a serious discussion about solving this pervasive crisis.
Because in 2020, the only thing students should be worrying about is finals.
Ventura is a fourth-year communication student and the Zero Hunger Grasstops Coordinator for CALPIRG Students at UCLA.
