How many people may have been exploited so you could drink your morning coffee?
UNM Fair Trade Initiative is trying to answer that question.
Student Mike Butler, a member of the group, said most students are unaware of the unfair treatment and the low wages that many farm workers receive.
Butler said that the Fair Trade Initiative was created to increase awareness of worker exploitation and promote action against it. Its members want to see Chartwells, UNM's food-service provider, use more products that were bought for a fair price and come from a good working environment.
The Fair Trade Initiative created the Dine with Dignity campaign in April, Butler said.
"We feel that students cannot eat with dignity if they know that the produce that they're eating or the coffee that they're drinking comes from fields where workers have been exploited, abused, beaten or underpaid," he said.
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Butler said that the Dine with Dignity campaign will work with Chartwells to have products like Fair Trade tomatoes and bananas on the UNM campus year round.
UNM signed a new contract with Chartwells, a national food service provider, about a year ago. Chartwells is responsible for all the food served on campus - in residence halls, the SUB and catered events.
Butler said that Fair Trade Initiative members met with Chartwells district manager Rudy Simchak on May 14 to discuss expanding the types of Fair-Trade products available to students.
"We talked with Simchak about trying to see an increase in Fair-Trade produce like bananas and tomatoes," he said. "We are also trying to increase the amount of Fair-Trade coffee and chocolate."
Simchak said that the SUB, La Posada and the Mercado already have Fair-Trade coffee options. The Mercado also carries Fair-Trade chocolate, he said.
Simchak said he discussed new food options for UNM with members of the Fair Trade Initiative that included an increase in local produce and vegetables as well as Fair-Trade items.
"We're investigating into how we can purchase Fair-Trade tomato and banana products, if they are available to us or not," Simchak said. "I'm in the process of finding out about that."
Stephen Dinkel, president of the Lobo Conservatives, said that although Fair Trade is good for business, because it creates competition, it isn't a huge concern for most students because they have more pressing matters to address.
"Frankly, I don't think this is a big issue on campus," Dinkel said. "I think students are more concerned whether they are going to pass a test or not."
Dinkel said that some students might appreciate having a wider selection to choose from, but it won't affect his meal selections.
"I personally don't care as long as I can get something that I think it would be good to eat if it's Fair Trade or not," he said.
Simchak said there were no Fair-Trade products on campus before Chartwells started at UNM last year. He said that Chartwells is responsible for bringing local restaurants like Saggio's and Dos Hermanos to the SUB.
"We can't keep track of every small company in the world, but on the national basis we have people who do inspections to make sure that the food products we purchase are of good quality," he said. "These people also make sure the environment that products come from is good, clean and safe and the people who work for them are taken care of in a professional way."
Simchak said Chartwells tries to monitor the companies they purchase from, but they can't always get products that are Fair Trade.
"The most controversial times are when you get into the middle of winter and students still want lettuce and tomatoes," he said. "That's when you lose a little bit of control over where items are coming from."
Simchak said that he hopes students will keep fighting for the products they want to see at UNM. He said that the more students demand Fair-Trade products, the cheaper and more readily available these products will become.
