Catholic University: Replace Starbucks with a Student Run Coffee Shop

Students currently pay $3 to $5 for a 20 oz cup of coffee at Starbucks Coffee in the Pryzbyla Center. Compare this to $2 to $4 for a comparable 20 oz Dunkin Donuts Coffee at other universities [1]. These high prices help maintain Starbucks' above average profit margin of 10.66% [2] and fund their numerous political activities.

Starbucks is currently using their revenues to overturn a federal law defining marriage as between one man and one woman [3], and also for gift-matching to Planned Parenthood [4]. We, the community of Catholic University of America, feel that we are entitled to a less expensive cup of coffee, whose price corresponds only to the quality of the product and not to the political agenda of the corporation.

Additionally, Starbucks has been accused of unfair job terminations and union busting [5] as well as stifling competition with a market monopoly of 73% of gourmet coffee sales [6]. The social teaching of the Catholic Church upholds the dignity of workers and the legitimacy of labor unions in documents like Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum. Also, Blessed Pope John Paul II wrote against such development-stifling monopolies in his 1991 Encyclical Centesimus Annus.

The Academic Senate of Catholic University of America has recently approved the creation of a new School of Business. We feel that a student run coffee shop would be a great way to enhance the new School of Business and provide students with excellent learning opportunities in running a business. Numerous other Catholic Universities have student run coffee shops, including Ave Maria, Benedictine, Georgetown, Providence College, and University of Dallas. We, the signatories of this petition, respectfully urge the administration to consider replacing Starbucks with a student run coffee shop.

Sincerely,
The Undersigned

[1] http://campusdining.org/locations/portions/dunkin-donuts.php
[2] http://ycharts.com/companies/SBUX/profit_margin
[3] http://www.nomblog.com/20829/
[4] https://familycouncil.org/?p=4230
[5] http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/steamed-workers-starbucks-article-1.239149
[6] http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2006-12-20-starbucks-usat_x.htm