He decided to recruit assistance from other graduates to begin working on his project. He sent out e-mails to friends and fellow alums of the Freshman Urban Program to tell them about the project. Soon after, Bar Am and a group of eight other undergraduates began holding meetings.

OXFAM's Brody contacted Bar Am and offered his support in helping to hold a teach-in at Harvard, and said he would bring a Mexican coffee farmer to speak.

"Fair Trade is a vehicle for Americans-and American college students in particular-to get engaged in social justice issues," Brody says. "It's a way for us to create sustainable incomes for people across the world by the way we spend our money."

In order to generate publicity for the info meeting, HIFT gave out free Fair Trade coffee Monday and Tuesday mornings in front of the Science Center. The coffee was donated by Peet's Coffee on Mt. Auburn Street, Loker Commons and the Greenhouse.

"People were very responsive," Bar Am says. "At least they got to hear the words Fair Trade for the first time."

The door-to -door canvassing also helped to increase awareness.

"After only two or three minutes of chatting in someone's dorm, people were asking really insightful questions and agreed to go the meeting," HIFT member Anne J. Beckett says.