Kathleen Banks Nutter sees the world in a chocolate bar

The 20 students in Kathleen Banks Nutter’s “Conscious Consumption” class are sitting in a circle, eating chocolate.

Not just any chocolate — this is organic chocolate, and because it costs more than the nonorganic kind, everyone gets one square instead of a whole bar.

They are eating it slowly and thinking about supermarkets, Fair Trade, buying green, and whether this chocolate is any better than a Hershey bar that’s one-third the price.

“What’s fair about Fair Trade?” Nutter asks the class. “Why do Fair Trade products cost more?”

“To get fair prices for farmers,” says one student.

“Because processing costs more,” says another. “Small companies that make only chocolate bars have to compete with larger companies that can keep down costs in other ways.”

“People feel good about using products that they paid more for,” says a third.

“Does something taste better if it has a Fair Trade sticker on it?” asks Nutter. She mentions the organic coffee now being marketed by McDonald’s. “Why does McDonald’s care about organic foods?”

“I wanted to teach this class because it’s small,” says Nutter, a lecturer in the History Department and a labor historian by training whose own research involves writing a book about the issues of production and consumption of chocolate on women. “Students can feel very lost their first year.”

The course, offered by the Undergraduate College of Leadership and Service, brings up such questions as: What’s bad about outsourcing? Is Wal-Mart a bad neighbor? What is a sweatshop? Do you know where your sneakers come from? Students examine various consumer movements and discuss the reasons and effects of boycotting certain items to make a social statement. During the semester, each student will do a project about either a past or current boycott or consumer campaign, or a product or service that he or she feels should be boycotted, and why.

“I don’t ask that my students have political leanings one way or another, but I want them to realize that their politics costs them money,” says Nutter. “If I want Fair Trade, it’s going to cost me.”

By the end of class, nearly every student has had a lot to say. Before leaving, they each tear a page out of their notebooks and write a personal response to the discussion, including questions they still had or points they didn’t get a chance to make. Most of the written responses are a page or more.

Asked about her goals for her students, Nutter says, “I want them to think about what it means to be a consumer. How they choose to spend their money has an impact on more than just themselves. There’s a giant ripple that goes out.”

“I hope they’ll see the connections between their decision to shop or not to shop in a store, and the effect of that decision. Shopping at Wal-Mart has consequences.”