On Thursday evening, about 30 University of Michigan students gathered at the Ford School of Public Policy to attend Dinners for Democracy, a program established by Turn Up Turnout to provide a space for students to engage in open conversations about relevant civic engagement issues. The dinner, which was hosted in collaboration with the Central Student Government, addressed food insecurity on campus.
Changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program under the One Big Beautiful Bill signed by President Donald Trump in July limit eligibility for food benefits and shift costs to the states, which may lead to additional cuts. LSA junior Taylour Poellnitz-Thomas, who serves as CSG’s co-director of Government Relations, wrote in an email to The Michigan Daily she suggested the dinner’s topic in order to raise awareness of resources that are available to students experiencing food insecurity.
“I hope students walk away with a deeper understanding of food insecurity and how it affects people on our own campus,” Poellnitz-Thomas wrote. “I want students to feel empowered to take action whether that’s volunteering, donating, voting, or just having conversations to break the stigma.”
Poellnitz-Thomas wrote she hoped to let students know that CSG wants to help combat this issue.
“I want students to know that CSG is listening,” Poellnitz-Thomas wrote. “Food insecurity is not just a campus issue; it’s local, national, and global. Because policy plays such a big role in addressing it, I hope students leave feeling empowered to vote and make their voices heard.”
A survey of college students from the Hope Center at Temple University conducted from spring 2023 to summer 2024 found that 41 percent of respondents reported experiencing food insecurity in the last 30 days.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, LSA junior Siddarth Ramkumar said he attended to learn about current initiatives on campus, like the Maize and Blue Cupboard or Food Gatherers. The Maize and Blue Cupboard provides free groceries, kitchenware and personal care items to U-M students, while Food Gatherers is a nonprofit organization that distributes food to community partners across Washtenaw County.
“I wanted to learn about the different programs there were and how to get involved, how I could volunteer and how I can help out with this problem,” Ramkumar said. “I also didn’t know how, specifically, college students were affected by food insecurity.”
Rackham student Sophie Bazzett, an intern at FedUp Ministries, a food distribution nonprofit based in Ypsilanti, told The Daily she has not been actively involved in policies centered around food insecurity but that the event encouraged her to play a more active role.
“I’m not super involved in that arena (because) I’m more in the micro, working directly face-to-face with our guests,” Bazzett said. “But, I’ve been dipping my toes in a little bit more to policy, so this has encouraged me to get a little more involved with that.”
At the end of the event, LSA senior Hillary Poudeu Tchokothe, president of TUT, presented a message to students that aimed to motivate them towards political action.
“We don’t have to just sit stagnant about it; we can do something to change this circumstance,” Poudeu Tchokothe said. “There’s so many things on like local, state and federal levels that impact issues like food insecurity, and I think these dinners are a great way for students to learn about it, talk with each other about it, understand it and then take action on it.”
In an interview with The Daily, Poudeu Tchokothe said the easiest way students can truly make an impact on food insecurity is by voting on policies and candidates that support food assistance programs.
“I’m hoping that it impacts people’s civic habits in a positive way — knowing that their local elections do matter, knowing that statewide elections do matter, knowing that federal elections do matter, encouraging students to be regular voters and to be civically engaged in that manner,” Tchokothe said.
Daily Staff Reporter Grace Park can be contacted at gracepm@umich.edu.
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