MSU students discuss link between food insecurity, transportation

Nov. 17—Without a car, Jose Felipe Ozuna is limited to public transportation and, when within walkable distance of his desired destination, his feet.

He gets by, but he said it isn't easy. Especially when it's time for him to eat.

"I've used the bus to go and get groceries at Walmart, but it just takes forever. It takes too long to the point where I don't have time to go get groceries," the Minnesota State University senior said. "I basically just use the food pantries on campus and whatever food I can get at work."

Felipe Ozuna had to find a job that was a short walk from both campus and his apartment.

He found one and, thankfully, his place of work also offers him food.

"It's been tough," Felipe Ozuna said. "A lot of things center around where I can go and what I can do without a car here. I work at Schwarmania because it's close to my apartment. I can walk there and back in under 10 minutes."

With limited job options available to him on top of paying for rent and college tuition, Felipe Ozuna hasn't been able to save up for a car. Without a car in a city that's spread out, his dining and grocery options are also sparse.

"It's something I've struggled with here," he said.

And he's not alone.

On Thursday during a forum at MSU revolving around transportation and food insecurity, Felipe Ozuna and six of his peers from his Civic Engagement and Social Justice workshop class presented their findings regarding the issue to student activists, professors, administrators and community members.

Their research revealed 64% of MSU students experience some form of food insecurity. When asked about it, students without cars reported that a lack of adequate transportation made getting food and other basic necessities challenging.

The creation of the Maverick Food Pantry on campus in 2021 has helped to improve the situation, but transportation availability is still a problem.

To fully address the issue, Felipe Ozuna and his peers split up into three teams focused on research, study and advocacy and outreach.

The research team — made up of MSU graduate student Ashley Jaxel, junior Mitchel Pomije and senior Kailey Van Riper — compiled data from existing literature reviews regarding the issue.

Their research found that, before the pandemic, 25% of college students suffered from an insecurity of basic needs that rose to 29% after. Among the list of basic needs, food insecurity was their focus.

Jaxel, Pomije and Van Riper also found that Black, African American and Asian students are more likely to experience food insecurity because international students and racial minority students disproportionately face transportation insecurity as well.

"We have a high percentage of international students and minority students at MSU," Pomije said during the forum. "Knowing what demographic of students are currently enrolled in our university, it's important to know that it's likely that they're disproportionately facing these issues and that we have to make some sort of solution to address the hurdles that they have."

Felipe Ozuna and MSU graduate student Enettie Malangano on the study team then presented their collaborative autoethnography findings.

A collaborative autoethnography is a type of qualitative research method that focuses on one's self as a study subject.

To gain a better understanding of the experience of those without a car in Mankato, all seven students — including MSU graduate student Ava Corey-Gruenes and senior Ashley Hoehn on the advocacy and outreach team — used public transportation to go to seven different stores in the area. The list of locations included Aldi, Walmart, downtown Hy-Vee, Cub on the hilltop, Kwik Trip near campus, the Maverick Food Pantry and the ECHO Food Shelf downtown.

From that experience, all seven students encountered problems regarding planning for the trip, public transportation schedules, transporting and carrying groceries, food availability at each location, and how long it all took.

"I have friends who let me know when they are going shopping so that I can join and, if no one has invited me shopping for a while, I will have groceries delivered," Malangano said. "If I do not have money for grocery delivery, I will use the bus, but that is a last resort for getting groceries because it takes so long to travel and does not allow me to carry as many groceries as I would need, especially when I am feeding other people."

The buses have a three-bag limit and, even then, the students complained about how painful and exhausting carrying their groceries back home was.

Malangano and Felipe Ozuna addressed that the problems they encountered would only be worse for students with disabilities.

From the advocacy and outreach team, Corey-Gruenes gave the audience hope by providing examples of long-term solutions.

"Even just one extra bus decreases the probability of food insecurity," she said.

Their key recommendations included the addition of a grocery shuttle provided by the university, increasing the routes and accessibility of existing bus services, improving the accessibility of the Maverick Food Pantry, providing more outreach and education, and making such changes without increasing student fees.

The professor of the class, Carol Glasser, said she couldn't be more proud of the work her students did on a prevalent issue on and off campus.

"These students are so awesome. They went into this nontraditional classroom and really rose to the occasion," she said. "It can be hard for a group of very diverse people to all become passionate about one topic. But this topic really emerged from their conversations with each other. It was something they were all passionate about. I was really happy that we found something so important that everyone agreed to work on."