Kaleb Poor
Staff Writer
A meeting of the minds took place on Wed. afternoon to discuss the problem of food insecurity at the University of Wyoming, featuring heavy hitters such as First Lady Jennie Gordon and a host of UW administrators and student leaders.
The meeting began with a presentation designed to illustrate the problem food insecurity has become for UW students. 37% of UW’s 12,000 students are reported to be food insecure, and about half of those students reported “very low” food security, according to a survey conducted through the Haub School.
“The reason I wanted to visit with you folks is that I was at the ag summit… and visited with one of the students at our table,” the First Lady said as the meeting began. “She mentioned that food insecurity was a pretty big deal on campus.”
First Lady Gordon, herself a UW alumnus, launched the Wyoming Hunger Initiative (WHI) in Oct. with the goal of addressing childhood hunger in the state. The program focuses on working with local organizations to help spread awareness about food insecurity and promote anti-hunger programs.
“The WHI, which is the First Lady’s initiative, is really about not reinventing the wheel,” Gordon said. “Everyone is already doing this work in some capacity all over the state, so the important thing that I wanted to do was use the First Lady’s office to shine a spotlight [on hunger], and also to connect people.”
The most visible anti-hunger programs in place at UW are the food pantries. Cupboards have been set up all across campus, from Beta House on fraternity row to the Bim Kendall House on Fremont street. These food pantries are often stocked at an out-of-pocket cost to faculty members.
“These cabinets are amazing,” said Mandy Gifford, academic advising manager at the Haub School. “But we also have at least 37% of our student population that experiences food insecurity. We know that cabinets won’t be enough, and we need to scale up.”
The need to do more was a constant theme throughout the meeting.
“[It’s] not just that students aren’t eating adequately,” said Anna Savage, director of student wellness and sustainability for ASUW. “From the university’s perspective, we see that it really impacts their ability to participate and perform academically… And beyond that, I think there’s a strong moral imperative to address this. These are our peers and our friends… and we have the means to address this.”
“While we appreciate the grassroots efforts and we love that model, and we want to keep going across campus,” said Savage, “we don’t have the institutional support.”
The discussion moved to possible solutions, which included exploration of initiatives in place at other universities. Ideas to aid food insecure students included: a swipe share program, which would allow students to share or pool their meal passes; a food recovery program to reduce food waste at Washakie dining center and creating a centralized food pantry system.
At one point, the First Lady brought up the possibility of using hunting as a source of nutrition.
“We’re working on a couple of different things,” the First Lady said. “[This] one may or may not fit into what you’re doing, but we’re trying to get game meat – hunter’s meat – into our food bank system here in our state.”
The First Lady went on to say that she understood the challenges to students who may want to hunt, including lack of access to large freezers. She also floated the idea of giving students access to game meat, which would need to be processed and tested for diseases like the infamous CWD.
The meeting ended with a brief tour of the food pantry in Bim Kendall House. The issue of how to address UW’s roughly 4,000 food insecure students will be a subject of discussion again during the Shepard Symposium on Social Justice in mid-April.
