Brown University

• Type: Liberal Arts, Private, 4 yr, 5000-10,000, Urban
• Region: Northeast
• Address:
• City: Providence
• State: RI
• ZIP: 02912
• URL: http://www.brown.edu
• involvement in the Real Food Challenge?
  Level 3: Taking the Challenge
• Food budget: 6,500,000
• Provider: self operated
• On campus concessions: 2 all-you-can-eat dining halls 4 a la carte eateries 1 campus market + many food carts
• Dining Services Director/Executive Chef: Gretchen Willis, Director; Peter Rossi, Associate Director
• Farm size: <1
• Farm operated by students? yes
• Successes and achievements: We now have a farmer's market on campus, a great (small) student garden, and a weekly market shares program (a subscription-based program for distributing produce to the broader campus community). For six years the Dining Services have run a "Community Harvest Program," their commitment to buying small amounts of local produce through direct relationships with Rhode Island Food service workers also won a significant contract re-negotiation recently, which, among other things, brought more "temporary" workers into full-time positions with benefits. Recently we launched a Real Food at Brown Initiative, bringing together student leaders from the Sustainable Food Initiative (SuFI), Student Labor Alliance (SLA), Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and emPOWER (a climate change activism group). Our campaign goals are: 1) A University commitment to a 20% increase in Real Food over 5 years 2) The hiring of eight part-time student staff positions (within Dining Services)--to ensure the we accomplish the above goal, and execute other food sustainability projects 3) A University-wide Food Systems Working Group to address Brown's broader (potential) engagement with the food system--including curriculum, waste stream, community engagement, etc.
• Composting: pre-consumer food waste
• Food activities: student farm/garden, fair trade purchasing, academic programs, student organizations, farm-to-college program, local purchasing
• Farm functions: supplies dining hall, food consumed by volunteers, food donated for hunger relief
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• Relevant academic programs: Course(s) offered, Extracurricular Activities, Student-run programs, Internships
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