The Campaign

We believe in creating a food system for WWU that truly nourishes producers, consumers, communities, and the earth.

WHO WE ARE

Shred the Contract is a student-run campaign at Western Washington University. We are students committed to environmental and racial justice, addressing inequity in the food system, and ensuring that all people have access to healthy and culturally appropriate food. We also recognize the interconnected nature of our food system, and strive to work in solidarity with food service workers, food chain workers, farmers, incarcerated people, and the broader Bellingham community.

OUR MISSION

WWU contracted with Aramark to run all of our dining services until 2021, at which point they were supposed to make the decision whether to re-up the contract for another large period of time. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic they extended the contract to 2023 when they will once again decide the direction of the future of dining. Shred the Campaign demands that WWU's administration end its contract with Aramark and begin the process of creating a self-operated dining system. Aramark’s practices do not align with WWU’s values, and a self operated system will allow us to have more transparency, equity, and student power in the food system.

OUR VISION

Our vision of WWU's self-op dining system includes the following:

Fair labor for all dining workers - this includes preserving the dining union and ensuring that folks employed in dining when we begin the transition to self-op are given the opportunity to be re-hired.

Increasing the amount of Real Food served in the dining halls.

Working with student religious and cultural groups to ensure that food is culturally appropriate and not appropriative.

Improving ingredient labeling and ensuring that students can access information about ingredient sourcing upon request.
More engagement with local farmers from Bellingham, Whatcom, Washington or generally the PNW for them to be able to access our institution's food and dining system.

Maximizing the amount of food that can be saved and donated rather than thrown away.
Invest in a sustainable future in terms of ecology, social justice, human health and economy.
Carbon emission and waste data related to food and dining will be easily accessible to any person and can be compared easily to WWU's carbon emissions and waste goals.

Creating infrastructure and support for students facing food insecurity on our campus.

We are continuing to refine and add to this list and would welcome your own ideas about what we should build into our dining future! Email us your ideas at: shredthecontract@gmail.com.