First College Student Group to Convince an Entire Dining Hall to Stop Serving Meat—Permanently—Will Receive $1,000
For Immediate
Release:
August 13, 2012
Contact:
Shakira Croce 202-483-7382
Los Angeles -- In recent years, college campuses across the country have responded to the growing demand for vegan food by expanding their dining halls' selection of vegan meals. Now, as part of its efforts to help students make their campuses even more vegan-friendly, peta2—PETA's youth division—is offering a prize of $1,000 to the first college student group that can persuade a dining hall that currently serves meat to go completely vegan.
Just in the last year, fully vegan dining halls have opened at the University of North Texas and the University of California–San Diego. According to a study by food-service provider Bon Appétit, the number of college students who identify themselves as vegetarian has risen by 50 percent since 2005 and the number of vegan students has more than doubled during the same period.
"More students than ever are choosing vegan meals out of concern for their health, the environment, and animals," says peta2 Associate Director Marta Holmberg. "peta2's contest might just provide student groups with the extra incentive to convince their dining halls to go from vegan-friendly to all-vegan, all the time."
College dining halls are getting more creative than ever with vegan meals: After receiving thousands of petition signatures gathered on campus, Youngstown State University started offering vegan pepperoni pizza and vegan meatball sandwiches. The University of Colorado–Boulder, which has repeatedly landed on peta2's list of top vegan-friendly colleges, recently added a cashew-based vegan mac 'n' cheese and vegan chocolate rice crispy treats to its menu.
Vegan meals are low in saturated fat and contain no cholesterol, so students who stick to vegan options have a far easier time keeping off the dreaded "freshman 15." Vegan meals are better for the environment—and they're far kinder to animals, too.
For more information, please visit peta2.com.