[1108] in UA Senate
Re: Reminder: Senate Caucus at 12:00pm Tomorrow
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Yangbo Du)
Sat Feb 19 18:44:23 2011
From: Yangbo Du <yangbodu@MIT.EDU>
To: hwkns@mit.edu
Cc: "Benjamin I. Shaibu" <bshaibu@mit.edu>, ua-senate-officers@mit.edu,
=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Jont=E9?= "Craighead (UA Speaker)" <ua-speaker@mit.edu>,
ua-senate@mit.edu
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTinWBF4diqLKE61D4K3yZzjek=6yCYJvGb1zG_=g@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2011 18:44:13 -0500
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For full disclosure, though pika deserves the credit for supplying data
on their procurement from Boston Organics, Whole Foods, and Cabot at low
cost, I was one of those who lobbied for including a section on local or
organic food in the DPC report (Daniel, I believe you or Paul Baranay
maintain an archive of DPC-related memoranda from Spring 2009, in case
some of that correspondence may be helpful as reference later on.).
Note the appendix documenting the meal plan at pika as a template for
living groups seeking to procure local and organic food for communal
use; it lends credence to the argument that sustainable food can be
low-cost and vice versa.
While we should maintain the position expressed in Section 6.3,
discussion of local or organic food sourcing has been tabled while
changes to MIT Dining are being debated. Again, cost is the area of
consensus for the student body as a whole, regardless of differences of
opinion on the desired structure of MIT Dining.
Yangbo Du
> There is a vocal minority of students who really think sustainable
> food should be a big part of the planning and creation of a new dining
> system. We gave one of them a chance to write up something that we
> might include in the report, and he did. We thought it was a nice
> idea, but probably a little unrealistic and possibly financially
> infeasible. So we cut it up, added in the phrase "equal or lesser
> costs", and kept it there as a way of saying, "here's another
> preference, if it doesn't interfere with your main priorities."
>
> So yes, there was some strong student backing for the idea, but on the
> order of ~7% of surveyed students. Most of the rest seemed to think
> that sort of thing was not nearly as important as keeping costs down.
>
> -hwkns
>
>
>
> On Sat, Feb 19, 2011 at 4:11 PM, Benjamin I. Shaibu <bshaibu@mit.edu>
> wrote:
>
> During the Caucus the question of whether to include Section
> 6.3 Sustainable Food in some kind of report/affirmation came
> up. I was wondering what that section's logic/inclusion choice
> was. Was it more towards making the plan comprehensive or was
> there some strong student backing for the idea of
> local/organic food when possible, or some other reason?
>
> Ben
>
>
> 2011/2/19 Daniel Hawkins <hwkns@mit.edu>
>
>
>
>
> Since I won't be able to make it today, I wanted to
> share some information about the DPC report. First of
> all, you'll find all the data and draft reports and
> BRDC nonsense here:
>
> http://web.mit.edu/hwkns/Public/dpc/
>
> And if you have any questions about why something is
> in the report or why something isn't, feel free to
> ask, because a lot of the authors are on this list
> (including myself). I'm pretty sure I still have all
> the e-mails from the open discussion list we created,
> so I can tell you the reasoning behind the choices
> that were made. Nothing went into the report without
> a reason, and that reason was almost always data.
>
> Have fun,
>
> -hwkns
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 11:21 PM, Jonté Craighead (UA
> Speaker) <ua-speaker@mit.edu> wrote:
>
> Hi, everyone:
>
> This week we committed to reviewing the UA
> policy on dining, and in particular,
> reexamining the UA Dining Proposal Committee
> Report. At tomorrow's Senate Caucus, we will
> discuss the feedback gathered on this issue
> and use this input to begin revising the UA's
> position and setting the UA's agenda for the
> next semester and year to come. The caucus
> will take place at 12:00pm in the UA Office,
> and as before, lunch will be provided for the
> Senators, Committee Chairs, and Officers who
> attend.
>
> Thanks for your time, and I look forward to
> the discussion,
> Jonté Craighead
>
> Speaker of the Senate
> MIT Undergraduate Association
> Course 1C: Class of 2013
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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For full disclosure, though pika deserves the credit for supplying data on their procurement from Boston Organics, Whole Foods, and Cabot at low cost, I was one of those who lobbied for including a section on local or organic food in the DPC report (Daniel, I believe you or Paul Baranay maintain an archive of DPC-related memoranda from Spring 2009, in case some of that correspondence may be helpful as reference later on.). Note the appendix documenting the meal plan at pika as a template for living groups seeking to procure local and organic food for communal use; it lends credence to the argument that sustainable food can be low-cost and vice versa.<BR>
<BR>
While we should maintain the position expressed in Section 6.3, discussion of local or organic food sourcing has been tabled while changes to MIT Dining are being debated. Again, cost is the area of consensus for the student body as a whole, regardless of differences of opinion on the desired structure of MIT Dining.<BR>
<BR>
Yangbo Du<BR>
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There is a vocal minority of students who really think sustainable food should be a big part of the planning and creation of a new dining system. We gave one of them a chance to write up something that we might include in the report, and he did. We thought it was a nice idea, but probably a little unrealistic and possibly financially infeasible. So we cut it up, added in the phrase "equal or lesser costs", and kept it there as a way of saying, "here's another preference, if it doesn't interfere with your main priorities."<BR>
<BR>
So yes, there was some strong student backing for the idea, but on the order of ~7% of surveyed students. Most of the rest seemed to think that sort of thing was not nearly as important as keeping costs down.<BR>
<BR>
-hwkns<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
</BLOCKQUOTE>
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On Sat, Feb 19, 2011 at 4:11 PM, Benjamin I. Shaibu <<A HREF="mailto:bshaibu@mit.edu">bshaibu@mit.edu</A>> wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
During the Caucus the question of whether to include Section 6.3 Sustainable Food in some kind of report/affirmation came up. I was wondering what that section's logic/inclusion choice was. Was it more towards making the plan comprehensive or was there some strong student backing for the idea of local/organic food when possible, or some other reason?<BR>
<BR>
Ben<BR>
<BR>
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2011/2/19 Daniel Hawkins <<A HREF="mailto:hwkns@mit.edu">hwkns@mit.edu</A>>
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Since I won't be able to make it today, I wanted to share some information about the DPC report. First of all, you'll find all the data and draft reports and BRDC nonsense here:<BR>
<BR>
<A HREF="http://web.mit.edu/hwkns/Public/dpc/">http://web.mit.edu/hwkns/Public/dpc/</A><BR>
<BR>
And if you have any questions about why something is in the report or why something isn't, feel free to ask, because a lot of the authors are on this list (including myself). I'm pretty sure I still have all the e-mails from the open discussion list we created, so I can tell you the reasoning behind the choices that were made. Nothing went into the report without a reason, and that reason was almost always data.<BR>
<BR>
Have fun,<BR>
<BR>
-hwkns
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On Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 11:21 PM, Jonté Craighead (UA Speaker) <<A HREF="mailto:ua-speaker@mit.edu">ua-speaker@mit.edu</A>> wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Hi, everyone:<BR>
<BR>
This week we committed to reviewing the UA policy on dining, and in particular, reexamining the <A HREF="http://web.mit.edu/ua/docs/dpc-reports/Final%20DPC%20Report.pdf">UA Dining Proposal Committee Report</A>. At tomorrow's Senate Caucus, we will discuss the feedback gathered on this issue and use this input to begin revising the UA's position and setting the UA's agenda for the next semester and year to come. The caucus will take place at 12:00pm in the UA Office, and as before, lunch will be provided for the Senators, Committee Chairs, and Officers who attend.<BR>
<BR>
Thanks for your time, and I look forward to the discussion,<BR>
Jonté Craighead<BR>
<BR>
Speaker of the Senate<BR>
MIT Undergraduate Association<BR>
Course 1C: Class of 2013
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