Student-led initiative fights food insecurity on campus

March 24, 2025

It started with a simple question over dinner in Case Hall’s cafeteria: “How does an off-campus student access food?”

For Spencer Good and Aditi Kulkarni, James Madison College sophomores at the time, the question wasn’t just idle curiosity. It was the catalyst for what would become a force for change.

Within two years, they were testifying before the Michigan legislature, organizing a rally on the Capitol steps and helping secure $500,000 in state funding to address food insecurity among college students across Michigan. 

Building the Spartan Food Security Council
Fall of 2021 marked a strange period of transition on MSU campus. After a year of fully remote learning, students were back in East Lansing. Among them were Good and Kulkarni, who had formed a connection during virtual classes the year before.

“We met virtually in 2020,” Good recalled. “Over those two semesters we took courses together, one focused on the environment and one focused on international food insecurity.”

Good had spent the summer thinking deeply about food insecurity issues, partly informed by his experience working in food service. He approached Kulkarni with an idea to create a student organization centered on ending campus hunger.

They named their new organization the Spartan Food Security Council (SFSC). Its mission: to end food insecurity on campus and in the greater East Lansing area through advocacy, education and service.

Initially, the group cast a wide net. “When we first started in October 2021, we really had no idea where we were going with the organization,” Kulkarni recalled. Ideas ranged from dining hall audits to meeting with community partners across campus. Founding members were intentional about avoiding a narrow policy focus and worked to recruit students from across the university.

To test their hypothesis about food insecurity on campus, Good and Kulkarni began reaching out to other students. They quickly discovered that many students faced significant challenges in accessing adequate, affordable food.

Understanding food insecurity on campus
The issues are multifaceted. Michigan State is one of the largest contiguous campuses in the United States, creating geographic barriers for many students. The nearest grocery option within walking distance, Target, offered limited selections. While on-campus students had meal plans, not all needs were met with dining hall offerings, particularly for those with cultural or dietary restrictions. The transition from living in residence to off-campus can introduce a new set of challenges.

The organization’s first year focused primarily on raising awareness. Good and Kulkarni visited classes to make announcements and recruit members. That’s how Jay Lyon heard about the group and joined as a founding member.

“When you talk about food insecurity, that means so many things. And then when you talk about campus food insecurity, it’s a unique infrastructure that has its own barriers and challenges.” — Jay Lyon

“As we went through our educational journey and transitioned from on-campus students living in Case Hall to off-campus students, we continued to have conversations with students about barriers they were experiencing,” Lyon explained. “When you talk about food insecurity, that means so many things. And then when you talk about campus food insecurity, it’s a unique infrastructure that has its own barriers and challenges.”

From awareness to action
The spring of 2022 marked a significant evolution for the organization. JMC faculty member Rashida Harrison asked SFSC to host a keynote address watch party for the Race in the 21st Century Americas Conference. The address focused on food and land justice, aligning closely with the group’s mission.

SFSC organized a roundtable discussion with students and the robust conversation left the group with “more urgency to scale our work specifically in the policy arena,” recalled Good.

That summer, he discovered Swipe Out Hunger, a national nonprofit working to pass legislation addressing college hunger. When the group reunited in the fall, they decided to reach out to the organization, which had never worked in Michigan before.

The partnership proved transformative. Swipe Out Hunger was championing the Hunger Free Campus Bill, legislation that would provide funding from state governments to colleges and universities.  It was intended to address on-campus hunger through resources like food pantries, SNAP enrollment opportunities and meal-donation programs.

Working with Swipe Out Hunger, students created a comprehensive spreadsheet mapping potential allies across campus and beyond — faculty, staff, administrators, student organizations, businesses and community centers.

In spring 2023, they organized a lobby day at the Michigan Capitol, with over 25 students participating. SFSC organizers encouraged students to share personal testimonies about food insecurity experiences, creating a powerful impression during meetings with representatives, senators and policy directors.

“We divided and conquered,” Good recalled. “That lobby day we had 10 meetings across Lansing — state representatives, state senators, policy director from the governor’s office. We really didn’t leave any stone unturned.”

A meeting with Rep. Julie Brixie, whose district includes many Michigan State students, became the catalyst for their legislative efforts. Though Brixie couldn’t sponsor the bill herself due to her position on the appropriations committee, she connected them with Rep. Jenn Hill, from the Upper Peninsula, who introduced the Hunger Free Campus Bill in 2023.

That fall, SFSC organized a rally on the steps of the Capitol. Good, Kulkarni and another student, Olivia Heath, provided testimony before the higher education committee. Though the bill ultimately died in committee during the lame-duck session like hundreds of others, their persistence yielded significant results: a line item in the state budget, allocating $500,000 for a pilot program.

The pilot program included four institutions: Michigan State University, Northern Michigan University, Grand Rapids Community College, and Macomb Community College. Each received $125,000 to address campus food insecurity. In a January 2025 ceremony, Brixie presented MSU Food Bank with the funds.

Looking ahead for SFSC
Current SFSC members, led by co-presidents Madison Mogg and Sami Veliu, are working with University Health and Wellbeing to develop guidelines for the use of the funds and how to continue to support students on campus. Mogg, who joined as a first-year JMC student in 2023, credits SFSC with motivating her passion for advocacy and political engagement. 

“Once I stepped foot into James Madison, I was immediately thrown into this kind of world of policy and social justice, which I thought was really cool,” said Mogg. “And honestly, that’s the whole reason I came here.”

While their policy work has garnered attention, SFSC maintains its commitment to education and service as well. They’ve partnered with sustainability-focused student organizations to host educational events, provided bag lunches during finals week, organized food drives with the Student Parent Resource Center and created dialogues across campus. Earlier this year, MSU University Health and Wellbeing recognized SFSC with the Wellbeing Advocate Award for their work.

Madison education in action
The founders credit the JMC education as instrumental to their work and success. Their courses provided conceptual frameworks for understanding food insecurity as a multifaceted issue requiring diverse solutions.

“Our coursework was informing our advocacy, and our advocacy was giving us a new perspective on our coursework,” Good reflected. “I hope that’s the roadmap that all James Madison College students follow because it enriched my educational experience.”

“Our coursework was informing our advocacy, and our advocacy was giving us a new perspective on our coursework." — Spencer Good

Several faculty members provided crucial support, including Daniel Ahlquist, who served as the group’s faculty advisor before transitioning the role to new faculty member Florencia Rojo. Prof. Sejuti Das Gupta, Assist. Dean Jeff Judge and others championed their efforts throughout.

Perhaps the most striking testament to SFSC’s influence is evident in the career paths of its founding members, all recent graduates of MSU. Good was a food systems manager at a nonprofit in Flint, Kulkarni is a community nutrition instructor for MSU Extension and Lyon is a regional advocacy organizer for Swipe Out Hunger.

SFSC work continues under the new leadership of Mogg and Valiu, with approximately half of current members from James Madison College and the other half from across MSU, including students from zoology, sustainability and computer science, among other majors. 

The group continues to partner with Swipe Out Hunger and is working towards the goal of securing funding for all public universities and community colleges in Michigan. The service and education elements of the group’s founding mission continue to inform SFSC’s work as members partner with organizations across campus to raise awareness of food insecurity among students.