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No matter what the outcome of the Student Unions upcoming Fair Trade Coffee referendum, we applaud all parties involved for letting the democratic process at Brandeis do its work. We are lucky to have a mechanism in place that allows the student body to state their opinion about the campus conversion to Fair Trade coffee.

The Fair Trade Brigade has come a long way. Over the last year, they have successfully made Fair Trade coffee a topic of discussion, and an active subject for debate. Through the non-binding poll last spring, the FTB proved that many people on campus are interested in seeing Fair Trade Coffee become a reality at our university.

Though the Fair Trade Brigade could have sought a unilateral conversion of the campus dining services to Fair Trade coffee without the input of the student body, they instead pushed for a non-binding vote to find if their proposal had popular appeal. Now, the undergraduate population will decide if Fair Trade is right for our campus. We believe that this vote is the best possible outcome;

after a year of lively debate, the campus as a whole will voice their opinion, rather than relying on the voices of a few opponents and proponents.

We hope the campus weighs all the benefits of and drawbacks to the Fair Trade Referendum, and recognize how this decision will affect our classmates and future classmates.

We would also like to thank the administration for letting students speak their mind. Though campus officials have no real responsibility to seeing that our voices are heard, they have committed to listen to our opinion when we say how we think the campus should be run.