The Mud Box and Pura Vida Coffee Shops will open this fall, joining the four others already open on the AU campus.
While some students are glad to be able to grab coffee anywhere at AU, but others say the coffee proliferation is overkill and the space should be used for other kinds of vendors.
During the 2003-04 academic year, student surveys and focus groups indicated students wanted either a drugstore or a coffee shop on campus, according to Julie Weber, director of Housing and Dining Programs.
Although the idea of a drugstore was popular, she said the idea was rejected because the university does not have the base population needed to sustain a drugstore year-round, and neither CVS nor Rite Aid wanted to set up shop in the space previously occupied by Auntie Anne's pretzel shop in Mary Graydon Center.
Pura Vida is expected to move into the space by mid-November, Weber said.
The two new coffee kiosks offer only certified fair trade coffee, meaning the companies pay coffee bean farmers a living wage, a base price that covers the cost of production and ensures that farmers make a profit. Most companies sell the coffee at prices that are lower than the cost of growing and harvesting it.
Last spring students and administrators debated whether to install a Pura Vida shop in Mary Graydon Center or a Starbucks, which offers some fair trade drinks. Both companies came to campus to explain their fair trade practices, During which time Starbucks pitched a new "social responsibility" campaign they're piloting at university campuses. It would allow students to select either fair trade or regular coffee.
About 1.6 percent of the company's coffee purchases last year were fair trade certified, and Starbucks buys a quarter to a third of all fair trade coffee in North America, according to Starbucks representatives.
When he made the announcement that the university would select Pura Vida to open on campus, AU President Benjamin Ladner said that Pura Vida represents "American University's institutional values and another opportunity to translate those values into a demonstrated public responsibility."
Dozens of students, many from the Fair Trade Student Association, Movement for Global Justice and the Office of Community Action and Social Justice, rallied in front of Mary Graydon Center to support Pura Vida in April. The month before, a student dropped a banner from the top of the building calling Pura Vida "The Guilt-Free Choice."
"It's good to have more choices, if they cater to different social aspects," said Brittany Aubin, a sophomore in the School of Communication, and a member of the Fair Trade Student Association.
Shireen Rahman, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, was pleased about the convenience of a library cafe.
"I think it will be good to have coffee in the library because I know I'm always drinking it while studying," she said. "They should have coffee at every vendor anyway."
But other students didn't want either Starbucks or Pura Vida, or the Mud Box.
"There are too many coffee shops on campus," said MK McKenna, a senior in the School of International Service, and a barista at Davenport Coffee Lounge in the SIS building. "I think the student body has plenty of caffeine options in a half-mile radius," she said. "Students want more food options- places they can get decent meals or snacks between classes."
University Librarian Pat Wand said the Mud Box has advantages over other campus vendors.
"The primary difference is the convenience for people already in the library," Wand said. "The name Mud Box implies a place that is relaxed where people can be creative, socialize, study or take a break. We want it to be a very informal gathering place for students."
"Mud Box" was the winner in the library's contest to name the new coffee shop.
The coffee shop in the library, which had a soft opening Aug. 10 will open in early September, is something students have been requesting for years, Wand said. The library, which has been working to update and improve its standing on campus, jumpstarted the project after the Graduate Student Leadership Council donated $11,000 for its construction.
