The latest Martin Center column collects expert opinions on the notion of “food insecurity” among college students. Count James Bovard among the skeptics.
Some college students are going hungry nowadays, as some collegians have gone hungry since medieval times when students rioted in the streets of Oxford, Cambridge, and Heidelberg. Some college students are not eating meals that nutritionists would approve, as was commonplace with the 25 cent Kraft macaroni and cheese boxes students ate in the 1970s or the ramen noodles students relied on in the 1980s and 1990s. But where did presidential candidate Bernie Sanders get the notion that “nearly half our college students are going hungry?”
From Professor Sara Goldrick-Rab and her team at the Hope Center for College, Community and Justice. According to the Hope Center, 45 percent of college students were “food insecure” in the prior 30 days based on their survey. The 45 percent figure comes from questionnaires that tap sentiments and opinions, not actual food consumption. …
… The Hope Center claims that college students are 762 percent more “food insecure” than average Americans. This makes no sense unless one presumes that students are practically a persecuted minority with suffering rates akin to people stranded on Pacific islands after shipwrecks. The Hope Center’s definition of “food insecurity” includes “the limited or uncertain…ability to acquire such foods in a socially acceptable manner.” If someone dreaded being seen food shopping at Walmart, would that mean they are food insecure because they were stressed to afford Whole Foods prices? In 2018, the Center reported that 26 percent of students with a college meal plan were “food insecure.” But how did students oversleeping and missing breakfast become part of a national crisis?
Relying on food security surveys to gauge college hunger is like estimating the number of suicidal collegians by asking how many students had any unhappy thoughts in the prior 30 days.
