528. That’s the approximate number of feet from the Alumni Memorial Union to Open Pantry Food Mart.
10,032. That’s about how many feet are between the AMU and the nearest Pick ‘n Save, the closest full-service grocery store to campus.
When it comes to convenience, which option are we, as college students, more likely to choose?
We’d argue that a majority would pick the closest, most convenient option over the one that has a better variety of food and healthier choices.
When students don’t have easy access to groceries they can prepare and cook on their own, they will resort to their on-campus options like Open Pantry, Jimmy John’s, Qdoba, Sobelman’s or Real Chili.
True, this problem mostly affects upperclassmen or those who live off-campus, as Marquette does require the Anytime Meal Plan for underclassmen.
The meal plans do provide some good options during the fall and spring semesters. Upperclassmen and faculty have the option of buying a Block 50 plan, offering 50 meal swipes per semester. The variety of buffet-style dining halls, to-go meals and one-meal options like Marquette Place or Schroeder’s Cafe Italiano offers more options than your average college campus.
Marquette even offers the Natural Market in the AMU, which sells organic, vegan and healthful meal options as well as grocery products. Students can use meal swipes for some options, and they accept dining dollars and Marquette Cash.
Outside of the dining halls, Marquette, MUSG and Sodexo also hosted a series of Farmer’s Markets this fall in Westowne Mall. The second event was held Tuesday, Sept. 27, and the last event will sell seasonal vegetables, fruits and other goodies Oct. 11.
Options like the Farmer’s Market offer students something different and healthy, and it’s a great start.
But that’s just it: a start. We can’t ignore our lack of options for a majority of the school year. The Natural Market offers healthier options and we can get fresh, seasonal vegetables now, but what happens when it’s not harvest time? Or when the weather turns snowy and freezing in February, an environment in which you can’t possibly expect students to walk to Pick ‘n Save and use of public transportation becomes significantly less reliable?
Let’s face it: Marquette is in a food desert. We don’t have the options we should for fresh foods. We need a better option than the bus or car ride to Pick ‘n Save or the occasional Farmer’s Market. We need a Marquette option.
The university gives us choices now, but we can do better. We could possibly open a Marquette store, such as a university grocery or convenience store that sells healthy options and is open all the time. Or we can have more regular markets like those this fall. These are just examples of the many different options to bring healthier choices to campus.
We acknowledge that such enterprises might require university subsidies to survive, especially during the summer months.
But in the summer of 2011, 3,653 undergraduate, graduate and professional students were enrolled in classes. This may not seem like a significant amount of students, but we should consider this is only the students enrolled in Marquette courses last summer, and there are others present who are taking courses at other schools, have internships or jobs or are just living in the campus area.
All these students (and presumably more) have no summer alternative to the school year’s meal plans or Natural Market. The summer population is just one more reason we need an on-campus option for fresh, healthy food.
While the university has made strides and has a variety of dining choices for underclassmen during the fall and spring semesters, it still has a long way to go. If we want to end our food desert, we need a fresh on-campus option.