PETA division recognizes IU's vegan options

IU officially reached the second round in the Most Vegan-Friendly College Contest after the first round of voting ended Tuesday organized by peta2, the youth division of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

The Most Vegan-Friendly College contest splits U.S. colleges into big and small schools and seeks a winner in each category.

Winners are selected through four factors: online voting, peta2’s assessment of vegan options offered at the school, the willingness of the school to promote vegan options and their nomination and openness to improving their vegan programs, peta2 street team coordinator Annie Leal said in an email.

This year is the seventh running of the contest.

“The contest helps prospective students see how their dream schools stack up while also giving current students a chance to recognize and support their university’s delicious, cruelty-free options,” Lead said.

IU has had vegan options in Residential Programs and Services dining outlets for at least 10 years, said Rachel Noirot, RPS registered dietician.

These options have expanded as more students commit to vegetarianism or veganism.
“Vegan students are becoming more educated, and they are themselves requesting specific things of dining services,” Noirot said. “There’s more variety now.”

As diabetes and obesity rates rise, more students see nutrition as a preventative tool for better health, further increasing veganism’s popularity, she said.

“Students are thinking more about where their food comes from,” she said.
Leal pointed out that as students learn about the meat industry, many do not want to support those companies.

“Since 2005, the number of vegetarians on college campuses has increased by 50 percent, and the number of vegans has more than doubled,” she said. “Students simply don’t want to support an industry that slaughters one million animals every hour and devastates the environment.”

Cailin Kennedy, a sophomore majoring in psychology and neuroscience, is a vegan for that reason.

A lifelong vegetarian, she said she thought becoming a vegan would be difficult.
After joining VegIU, a campus support group for vegetarians and vegans that cooperates with RPS, she found the transition easier than she expected.

“I watched the movie ‘Earthlings,’ which is a movie about the use of animals in the world, not just for food, but for science, clothing, pets and more,” Kennedy said in an email.  “After watching this movie, I stopped consuming animal products to the best of my ability because I did not want to be contributing to the animals’ suffering.”

Kennedy lives at Collins Living-Learning Center, which is well known for offering a variety of vegan options to students, she said. 

Elsewhere, VegIU has had to work with RPS to ensure quality and quantity of vegan items on RPS menus.

“Living in Collins did allow for better vegan options,” she said. “Last year RPS did not fully understand what was and was not vegan, but this year, after the work of VegIU, the items that are labeled vegan actually are vegan.”

Noirot said more vegan and vegetarian options are available on campus, such as granola and vegan challah bread in prepackaged sandwiches.

Tofu is an option in many food lines, and there are a variety of protein-filled nuts in salad bars.

However, she noted RPS options still have some shortcomings.
“We have a ways to go to get to what I’m comfortable with,” she said. “We are still getting there.”

Currently, RPS is experimenting with new vegetarian wraps.

“That’s one thing that I’d like to have expanded, our grab and go things,” Noirot said.
She is currently working to create a hard-bound vegetarian guide for visitors to campus who would want more information concerning vegetarian options.

Despite the setbacks, opinion concerning IU’s vegan and vegetarian options is positive.
“The vegan options are very popular at IU even among non-vegetarians,” Leal said.