“Who Isn’t in the Room Yet?”

On September 27, I joined more than 100 advocates for students’ basic needs at the second annual Carolinas College Food Insecurity Summit at Newberry College in South Carolina. Participants gathered from across North and South Carolina, as well as Georgia, to share ideas, strategies, and challenges in addressing students’ basic needs. The event began with a welcome from David Coffman, who helps lead Newberry College’s Wolves Pantry, and reminded us that the tables in our lives, whether at home, in the cafeteria, or in a boardroom, are all connected when it comes to sharing resources. Local leaders, including the mayor of Newberry, underscored the importance of partnerships across campuses and communities. The reflections below offer a summary of my experience at the summit and the insights I carried forward from the day.

Making people care: Lived experience matters

The keynote speaker, Paige Swanstein, co-founder and co-executive director of the Student Basic Needs Coalition, posed a question that set the tone for the day: How do we get the people who don’t yet care to start caring about students’ basic needs? She reminded us that while those of us at the summit already care deeply about this topic, the real challenge is engaging those who have not personally experienced insecurity. To make this tangible, she led us through an exercise where we identified three stakeholders we wanted to reach, then reflected on what each group already cares about, what barriers might stand in the way, who could serve as the right messenger, and what small action might bring them closer to the work. This activity demonstrated that systemic change requires not only passion, but also strategy and intentional outreach.

Swanstein’s keynote also highlighted the power of persistence and creativity in shifting campus culture. At NC State, a proposal to require all faculty to include a basic needs statement in their syllabi failed at the faculty senate level. Undeterred, students and staff created a voluntary basic needs ally training—hundreds of faculty took part, and many included the statement in their syllabus. What began as a blocked proposal transformed into an even more widespread practice because student advocates continued to find another path forward.

Photo courtesy of the Carolinas College Food Insecurity Summit

Throughout the summit, speakers emphasized that personal experience is often what sparks empathy. A student attendee reminded us that approaching an adult for help can feel like admitting failure, which is why peer navigators, student leaders, and identity-conscious outreach are so important. Stories like these illustrate how awareness spreads, not automatically, but through intentional choices about who delivers the message and how it is framed.

“This isn’t new” … but awareness is different now

Another clear message was that food insecurity on college campuses is not a new phenomenon, but for a long time it was not openly acknowledged. The difference today is that data collection, student organizing, and public conversation have made it harder to ignore. At the summit, some participants openly admitted that they had once underestimated the scale of the issue, but new research and student testimonies have shifted their understanding.

Photo by Elmira Jangjou

This shift in awareness has already led to creative solutions. At the University of South Carolina, the Garnet Bites program distributes “remaining” catered food through a text alert system, intentionally framing it as a sustainability effort. As one panelist noted, even small shifts in language, such as saying “remaining” rather than “leftover,” can reduce stigma and help students feel more comfortable accessing food. Western Carolina University provides shuttles to grocery stores and farmers markets so that students without cars have access to fresh food options. At Appalachian State University, cooking classes are paired with pantry use, giving students practical skills to stretch their food resources. FoodShare South Carolina offers fresh produce boxes, including a no-cook version designed with dorm life in mind. These programs reflect a broader recognition that hunger should not remain hidden, and that new approaches can both normalize care and reduce barriers to access.

Equally important was the reminder that preparedness matters. Several community partners urged campuses to plan for disasters, like Hurricane Helene, by stocking no-cook food, securing water reserves, and preparing communication systems. Hunger doesn’t stop when the power goes out, and institutions should be ready to meet student needs in emergencies as well as in everyday life.

No one-size-fits-all: Centering students and leveraging partnerships

Summit discussions underscored how food insecurity affects student populations in very different ways, with some groups facing unique barriers that often go unrecognized. I was particularly excited to hear international students named and centered during the summit, as I was one in graduate school. A panelist described the difficulties of arriving in the US without a car, without familiarity with grocery systems, and sometimes without even the basic tools needed to cook. Visa restrictions and high living costs only add to the challenge. I know from my own experience that these barriers can feel overwhelming. It was powerful to see them acknowledged in this space, and especially meaningful when, during the closing reflections, one participant said their biggest takeaway was learning about the challenges faced by international students.

Photo by Elmira Jangjou

Other groups highlighted throughout the day included athletes with demanding nutritional needs and tight schedules, rural students with limited food options and transportation, and student parents balancing childcare and academics. Each example reinforced the fact that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to supporting food insecurity. To be effective, support must be tailored, culturally responsive, and designed with students’ intersecting identities in mind.

The breakout sessions focused on community partners and state connections showed how vital collaboration is in addressing these diverse needs. Food bank leaders, community gardeners, nonprofit directors, state officials, and scholars gathered to share strategies. An attendee recalled being denied SNAP benefits as a student due to misinformation, only to later discover as a state employee that she had been eligible all along. Her message was a call to action for partners to spread accurate information and reduce stigma so that students do not fall through the cracks. (Ithaka S+R wrote about student access to SNAP in 2022). Others spoke about experimenting with culturally relevant crops in community gardens, using food waste prevention grants to support food security, and drawing on the strength of intergenerational involvement. These stories reminded us that advocacy does not stop at the campus boundary and that community solutions must be intertwined with campus strategies.

Policy SNAPshot from the Carolinas

The summit also included a timely session on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which remains the largest hunger relief program in the US but is facing new challenges. Recent federal legislation has shifted more costs of food benefits and administrative expenses onto states, placing heavy financial burdens on both North and South Carolina. At the same time, new state-level proposals raise questions about dignity and choice, such as efforts to limit what items SNAP can purchase.

Photo courtesy of the Carolinas College Food Insecurity Summit

For college students, eligibility remains complex, which hinders many from accessing the support they need, underscoring the responsibility of higher education institutions to take an active role in connecting students with available resources, both institutional and community-based. As multiple presenters at the summit reminded us, institutions have a powerful opportunity to amplify their impact by working in partnership with community organizations. Partnerships with food banks, nonprofits, and state agencies are critical to helping students navigate SNAP and other benefits. For example, community organizations like SC Thrive work directly with campuses to train staff, embed application assistance into student services, and reduce barriers created by lengthy, confusing forms. Similarly, collaborations with local food banks can amplify awareness campaigns, expand pantry offerings, and ensure students are not left out when policy shifts occur. Leveraging these partnership opportunities echoes broader findings from the Maximizing Public-Academic Library Partnerships (PALP) project, including the case study on Chatham Community Library in North Carolina, which illustrates how academic and public libraries can extend their impact by joining forces and connecting community members, including students, to essential information and resources beyond the library itself.

A closing reflection

The summit ended with closing reflections and an optional tour of Newberry’s Wolves Pantry. Walking through the pantry was a reminder that basic needs support is not just about providing food; it is about creating spaces where students feel they belong. As I left Newberry, I carried Paige Swanstein’s question with me: Who isn’t in the room yet, and what will it take to make them care? The answer, I believe, lies in stories, in partnerships, and in the small but deliberate actions we take to normalize care. Summits like this one not only spark ideas but also send practitioners home with tools and momentum. The challenge now is to use that momentum to ensure “no student has to choose between their education and their next meal.”

Photo by Elmira Jangjou