After winning his second term as president of the McMaster Students Union in January 2024, President Jovan Popovic made the decision to fast track one of his campaign promises to a referendum.
The promise: to deliver a free meal program featuring soup and bread to students based on the successful Loaded Ladle program offered at Dalhousie University. The referendum failed to reach quorum, with only 9.4 per cent of the student population casting a ballot one way or the other.
As a transfer student from Dalhousie who witnessed first hand how the Loaded Ladle impacted hundreds of students each day, I see this as a tragedy.
But it may not stay that way for long.
As of September, the Student Representative Assembly approved a motion to rerun the referendum. It seems Popovic might have learned more this time than last about what made Dalhousie’s experiment so successful.
As of September, the Student Representative Assembly approved a motion to rerun the referendum.
The Loaded Ladle began life as an unsanctioned food service organization on Dalhousie’s campus serving soup from an ironing board. Despite problems with campus police, the organization gained popularity among students and garnered support that eventually saw them granted a kitchen space in the student union building, as a carve-out from the union's exclusive contract with corporate food provider Aramark.
Its origins — and continued existence — as an explicitly political, anti-capitalist student activist group meant that the Loaded Ladle needed to garner community support from its beginnings.
While I supported Popovic’s proposal, I think that this difference helps explain why his referendum failed to gain enough votes to either pass or fail. What was at Dalhousie a student-run initiative, would be under Popovic a single presidential candidate’s, albeit well planned and thought out, campaign promise.
The proposal itself reflects these differences too. At Dalhousie, the Loaded Ladle is an independent non-profit, run largely by volunteers, now with some paid positions at $23.50 per hour. The proposed program at McMaster would be run out of the TwelvEighty Kitchen and would be staffed and operated by existing MSU employees.
This difference is understandable. The President alone would have a hard time building an activist organization during a one-year-term and his current proposal would deliver results to students soon and for a modest fee.
But I think it's these differences that explain why the referendum failed to meet quorum. Without a group of student activists raising awareness, most students wouldn't have bothered checking the email from elections services.
Luckily, Popovic himself seems aware of this fact.
In his request to the SRA to suspend the rules on referendums that would have prevented the referendum from being re-run until next year, Popovic acknowledges that his referendum failed exactly where the Bike Share referendum succeeded.
“[T]hey were only aware of one . . . a student-led campaign team was openly informing students of the [Bike Share] referendum," read Popovic's official motion to the SRA.
This time around, Popovic says he has a “group of students” ready to raise awareness about the referendum to the student body. This, along with Popovic’s other reasons for rerunning the referendum — a commitment to his campaign promise and to the democratic process — demonstrate his interest in the kind of student-led politics that helped the Loaded Ladle and the Bike Share referendum to succeed.
This, along with Popovic’s other reasons for rerunning the referendum — a commitment to his campaign promise and to the democratic process — demonstrate his interest in the kind of student-led politics that helped the Loaded Ladle and the Bike Share referendum to succeed.
Whether he follows through on his commitment and sees the soup and bread program through or not, Popovic is clearly attempting to move forward with these valuable lessons in mind. His new plan is a clear path to success. With this revised plan, I think Popovic has everything he needs to succeed.
The closure comes in the midst of security and funding issues
The campus community fridge, a vital resource for students, faculty and community members needing free healthy food options, officially closed its doors on Aug. 30, 2024. The decision came after mounting financial challenges, repeated security breaches and ongoing difficulties in maintaining adequate staffing.
The fridge, operated by the Student Wellness Centre, had been a food resource located behind Mills Library for over two years. It provided free, nutritious food to anyone in need, including students, staff and members of the surrounding community.
For many students, the fridge was essential to help provide food amid the rising cost of living. In an interview with The Silhouette, PhD student Val Flores, expressed how the fridge had been a great help throughout their time at McMaster. "It came at a time in my life when I didn't really have a lot of money," said Flores.
It came at a time in my life when I didn't really have a lot of money.
Val Flores, PhD student
Flores, who was diagnosed with diabetes in 2023, shared the struggles of eating healthy with expensive grocery prices and limited food options on campus. "Having the community fridge so I could make my own meals and deal with my own condition . . . It helped me a lot," said Flores.
The McMaster Community Fridge announced on Instagram that the service would be closing as of Aug. 30, 2024. The statement cited "logistical challenges" as the reason.
The community fridge was established in 2022 by a group of third-year student volunteers who wanted to address food insecurity on campus during a sustainability course project. The Student Wellness Centre undertook the project and assumed responsibility for stocking, maintaining and monitoring fridge services.
SWC Program Coordinator Jack Chen provided a detailed account of the challenges plaguing the community fridge initiative in recent years. Funding had become a persistent challenge, with the initiative relying heavily on monetary and food donations. "The years following 2022 showed a pretty exponential decrease in funding from donation . . . we were not able to secure the kind of additional funding needed to support the fridge on a sustainable basis," said Chen.
The years following 2022 showed a pretty exponential decrease in funding from donations …we were not able to secure the kind of additional funding needed to support the fridge on a sustainable basis.
Jack Chen, Program Coordinator
Student Wellness Centre
Staffing and volunteer support have posed further challenges. "We have lots of student volunteers who work on the project and love being part of it . . . But without a dedicated [paid] staff member, it's been challenging to manage everything together," said Chen.
In addition to financial difficulties, security concerns have significantly impacted the fridge's viability. According to Chen, the fridge has faced incidents of theft.
"In the past 12 months, we've experienced quite a few security breaches," said Chen.
These incidents have also highlighted the difficulty of maintaining a free-access resource in a public space while balancing the need for security and safety. Ultimately, the combination of these issues led to the difficult decision to close the community fridge.
Although the community fridge itself will no longer be in operation, the mission to address food insecurity on campus will continue through the Food Collective Centre, a service funded by the McMaster Students Union. The fridge and freezer from the closed community fridge will be repurposed to support the FCC's operations, expanding their service operations to offer both non-perishable and perishable food items.
The FCC, newly located on the 3rd floor of the HUB, has traditionally focused on non-perishable items. This expansion will help maintain the balanced and nutritious offerings previously provided by the community fridge.
"I'm super excited by the expansion of the FCC services to include perishable items. This will continue to help us serve our members and help alleviate food insecurity on campus," said MSU Vice-President (Administration) Adam El-Kadi.
The SWC will provide an initial $1,000 in financial support to the FCC and will evaluate further donations based on the success of the first year of operations.
Organizers of the community fridge have expressed their commitment to supporting those in need, albeit in a different format.
"You can still access the same number of resources, if not more, in this new space [FCC]. It's just in a different spot and a different format," said Chen.
They hope that integrating the FCC into this new model will provide a more sustainable and secure method of distributing food, addressing the challenges that led to the fridge's closure.
As the campus community adjusts to this new food distribution blueprint, the HUB will officially launch the new service space on Oct. 1. Organizers encourage students and staff to stay informed by following @msu_fcc and @mcmastercommunityfridge on Instagram.
