The Badger Market in Union South will soon accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, the Wisconsin Union announced Wednesday.
This announcement comes four months after the University of Wisconsin began accepting SNAP benefits at the Flamingo Run location in Gordon Dining Hall.
Under this new policy, students will be able to purchase certain food and beverages, according to the announcement from the Union. The date Badger Market will begin accepting the benefits has not yet been determined.
Despite UW’s progress assisting those students that are food-insecure, food still isn’t very accessible on campus, UW professor of consumer science Lydia Zepeda said in an email to The Badger Herald.
“However, please note that most of these resources are provided by student organizations,” Zepeda said.
UW alumna Brooke Evans still believes the university has not done enough for students who are food-insecure. During her time at UW, Evans was food-insecure and advocated throughout the campus, especially when serving on Associated Students of Madison.
Badger Caring Closet to open its doors to low-income students seeking extra resources
Evans believes the Badger Markets exclude low-income students, even though the Wisconsin Union has often been portrayed as a “living room of campus,” she said.
The prices at the Badger Market are still too high for students, Evans said, adding students need to be given some bargaining power when it comes to these prices.
“The University has never done enough to support food insecure-students and this fundamental shift toward benefits access is far from enough for the service we must be providing,” Evans said.
