The CSU chapter of Universities Fighting Hunger became a student organization in fall 2008. Miranda Fisher and Allison Lundeby were part of a group service-learning project in AGRI 270 (World Interdependence: Population and Food) that required the development of a program to raise awareness of hunger issues within the campus community. From that group project came the Cans Around the Oval Concert and Universities Fighting Hunger. Since the concert, we've been working to raise awareness and provide service opportunities for CSU. Please join us at one of our upcoming events or send us an email. We want you to help us raise awareness about hunger and malnutrition issues!

Universities Fighting World Hunger -- Call to Action

Welcome to Universities Fighting World Hunger (UFWH).  This international initiative started in 2004 as a partnership between the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and Auburn University.  Since that time, UFWH has expanded to a coalition of more than 70 universities that have joined the fight against hunger and malnutrition domestically and worldwide.

Why has higher education NOW been called to the table to collectively weigh in on this huge, seemingly unsolvable problem of world hunger?  In the year 2000, the United Nations announced its Millennium Development Goals, the first one being to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, to cut them in half by the year 2015.  Unfortunately, due to circumstances resembling a 'perfect storm', it appears that goal cannot be reached.

Despite the efforts of relief organizations like WFP, hunger is still on the rise by about four million people a year.  In actuality, the proportion of hunger victims is half of what it was in 1969.  However, the world's population is growing, and food distribution problems are exacerbated by the increasing incidence of droughts, floods, and conflict areas.  Further, it now costs 50% more to buy grain worldwide than it did just five years ago, which means that WFP is feeding significantly fewer people for the same contribution.  Factoring in the issue of climate control, which is placing higher demands on food production to meet energy needs, the world's most vulnerable people will surely suffer the most, not to mention the ethical dilemma associated with using food for fuel with hunger at current levels.  Clearly, world hunger is not going to be solved in the near term, and short-term solutions, like food crisis intervention, are insufficient to dramatically reduce world hunger on a permanent basis.

That's why higher education must be engaged in this fight. Universities are drastically needed for their staying power and the on-going contributions that can come from their teaching, research, and outreach efforts that are perpetuated from generation to generation. Hunger is exceedingly complex and so multi-faceted that virtually every academic discipline has a contribution to make in alleviating hunger.  Universities can provide the knowledge and skills to positively impact the lives of more than 850 million people worldwide suffering from chronic hunger.  What is needed is a commitment to take collective action against this dreaded global problem.

So join us!  Students, faculty, and administrators working together are all essential to the success of Universities Fighting World Hunger.
Our time is now!