New café opens, but it’s not without its critics

By Jason Gondziola

Concordia students now have yet another choice when the urge for caffeine hits. The International Café, situated in the lobby of the Hall Building, is open for business, serving students coffee with breakfast and lunch options.

“We know that there is a lack of food services on campus, especially in the morning,” said Myriam Champagne, communications co-ordinator for the Vice-President, Services. “From the student perspective, there is a lack in the variety of food that we offer.”

The new café will also offer newspapers and food from around the world. Sushi, waffles and Mediterranean fare will be served alongside the New York Times and The Independent. The café will also be exclusively serving fair-trade Starbucks coffee, largely because of pressure from students on campus.

“It’s good to listen to the concerns of the student population,” Champagne said. “We have a lot of activist students, and they do bring these issues forward.” But some of those same activists aren’t happy with the new café. Laura Howard, who spearheaded the überculture collective’s fair-trade information campaign last year, explained.

“Finally Java U has gone 100 per cent fair trade, and there is big support on campus to support local initiatives,” she said. “If you’re supporting larger corporations on campus, you’re not really supporting your local community.”

Her group also takes issue with the fact that the café is operated by Chartwells, the company that handles most of Concordia’s catering needs. A subsidiary of Compass Group PLC, a UK-based corporation that is the world’s tenth-largest employer, Chartwells is often criticized for being one of the US military’s biggest food and service providers.

“Anyone coming into the building to inquire about something sees Starbucks and Chartwells right there.”

Howard also takes issue with the use of public space by the new café.

“Why is there all of a sudden room for a corporate entity on campus when there wasn’t room for student space anywhere on the main floor of the Hall Building?”

For her part, Howard hopes to raise awareness among students about the café and the corporate interests behind it. Similar efforts have met with success at McGill, she says.

Last Friday, the CSU held a general assembly on this and other issues, but didn’t satisfy the attendance requirements to meet quorum. Nonetheless, Champagne says she takes these issues seriously.

“We listened to the comment from the general assembly. We had feedback from that, and we took this matter to Chartwells — they have this contract with Starbucks. We collected the information, we’ll look into it, but we haven’t make a decision yet.”

While she can’t get into specifics, Champagne said the university doesn’t collect rent from any of the Chartwells restaurants, but instead takes a commission on the sales.

Champagne also said that the cafeteria on the seventh floor will re-open its doors on Monday, Sept. 27. In addition to restoring this eating space, this will mean another Chartwells-run food provider on campus, offering breakfast and hot meals to students.