When she learned of the coffee shop opening in the basement of Founders’ Memorial Library, senior biology major Clare Kron inquired if Founders’ Café would serve fair trade coffee.

“I believe the university should be the guiding light for students, and the surrounding community, on what is equitable and fair,” Kron said.

Kron is determined to make fair trade coffee a campus-wide issue. On March 27 at 7 p.m., she will host a presentation on fair trade coffee in the University Honors Program’s office in the Campus Life Building, Suite 110.

Coffee labeled “fair trade” means that workers and exporters in coffee-growing nations get paid fairly for their product, according to an April 2007 New York Times article.

It is not clear at this point whether or not the Founders’ Café will sell fair trade coffee. According to Mitch Kielb, director of the Holmes Student Center, Starbucks, the current provider of coffee to the Coffee Corner shop in the HSC, is “changing its corporate strategy.”

“It is likely that we will no longer be able to get Starbucks coffee of any kind,” Kielb said. “Therefore, we are in the process of finding other premium coffees from new vendors.”

Kielb said this includes fair trade coffee vendors. Fair trade, according to Kron, is an alternative method of trade so that “every individual in the fair trade transaction benefits.”

With fair trade coffee, “the consumer knows that they’ve been grown ethically and environmentally friendly,” Kron said.

Kielb said he agrees with this sentiment.

“We certainly want to sell something that’ll do some good,” Kielb said.

However, Kielb admitted he was skeptical over the definition of a fair trade coffee vendor.

Kron, in regards to Starbucks, said that fair trade coffee consists of 6 percent of the multinational coffee chain’s purchases.

“They have been making an effort,” Kron said. “But they don’t do enough.”

Another contentious point is money. Kielb said that, when compared to brand names, fair trade coffee does not sell well.

“People tend to buy brand names,” Kielb said. “That’s why Starbucks has done so well.”

Kron, on the other hand, believes that the virtues of the alternatively grown coffee offset brand name appeal.

“[The farmers] are living in grass huts. They can’t afford to send their kids to school because they can’t afford one. They can’t be sent to a clinic,” Kron said. “If [students] knew this, would they be inspired to ask for fair trade coffee? Yes, I believe they would.”

The Founders’ Café opens March 17, the Monday after spring break.