Loyola University Chicago
EN-5: Outreach Campaign

"UnCap LUC" is a campaign that led to the banning of the sale of bottled water at Loyola University Chicago. In March of 2012, the students voted in favor of ending the sell of bottled water at Loyola and the phase out process started directly after that. The campaign began with eliminating the selling of bottled water at campus stores, followed by school catering services and finally campus vending machines. Although the use of plastic is a contributor to environmental problems, the primary goal of UnCap LUC campaign is to raise awareness of the social injustices as well as environmental impacts of water privatization. Water privatization occurs when private businesses develop or are allowed to control public water supplies, and then bottle the water and sell it to the public for a profit. The issue of water privatization focuses on the product in the bottle, not the bottle itself. The students felt strongly that water is a basic human right and the University should not support the privatization of this natural resource. UnCap LUC has led to the creation of refill stations where individual can refill water bottles, and a map of the stations for Loyola community to access and review. All incoming freshmen and transfer students are given a reusable bottle during orientation,and are made aware of the campaign. Reusable bottles are also sold in campus dining stores. As an added bonus of UnCap LUC, Loyola continues to progress towards being a more environmentally sustainable campus with the reduction of plastic waste and the associated energy use to bottle and transport water.

As of December 2012, Loyola had 51 refill stations on its Lakeshore Campus & Water Tower Campuses. They had reduced the usage of 784,365 plastic water bottles. Notes: this number was taken from the tracker on each refill station. This number represents anytime the refill station was used to fill a bottle.

The Grow Change Campaign is a university campaign to improve the school's dining options. We are striving to increase the amount of "Real Food" served to 20% by 2020. As a student organization that focuses on urban agriculture , our connection to food is obvious. We want others to realize what it means to transform the food system by making the simple choice of learning and then acting locally.

Have received information from Aramark on local, organic, and fair-trade purchasing. Are working together to highlight opportunities at the Engrained Cafe for future efforts.

Other campaigns have addressed mountaintop mining leading to shareholder advocacy, and fossil fuel divestment leading to some understanding of where the university is invested in these companies.