Former California Mayor Calls on Williams College to Memorialize Animals Killed for Campus Dining

For Immediate Release:
February 4, 2026

Contact:
Alex Payne 202-483-7382

Williams College is being asked by alumna and former Ojai, California Mayor Betsy Stix in a letter sent today to college President Maud S. Mandel, to get ahead of history by allowing the installation of a PETA-supported campus memorial plaque to recognize and commemorate the millions of chickens, turkeys, cows, fish, pigs, and other animals who have been killed and served up as food in the college’s dining halls. Stix notes that the plaque would spark serious conversations about how moving away from eating meat protects animals, the environment, and human health—and would influence other schools to do the same. Stix says it is “a chance for the college to do something now, not 50 years from now, to recognize how future generations of students and faculty will regard what used to be normal practice and is already being recognized as cruelty and supremacism.”

The proposed plaque’s inscription emphasizes how other species feel love, joy, pain, and fear just as humans do, yet are raised on filthy, crowded factory farms, endure a petrifying journey to slaughter through all weather extremes, and are violently killed. PETA points out that the college’s dining hall can easily eliminate such cruelty from its menu, as it has already acknowledged the student body’s vegan food requests by offering plant-powered options at Driscoll Dining Hall, Eco Café, and elsewhere on campus.

“There’s no undoing the terror and pain endured by the animals who were slaughtered for food, but a memorial would serve as a reminder that their lives matter and are not ours to take,” continues Stix. “The Williams College Animal Recognition Memorial could help students and faculty recognize that we do not have to be bullies and life-takers, and that all living, feeling beings deserve consideration and respect, which starts with leaving them off our plates.”

“Universities have renamed buildings and placed land acknowledgment plaques in recognition of past wrongs, yet grave injustices persist on campus so long as animals are not thought of as someones but as somethings to be served up in the dining hall,” says PETA Founder Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA urges Williams College to be on the right side of history by embracing this memorial’s compassionate message now, not 50 years from now.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out thatEvery Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. PETA’s free vegan starter kit can help anyone looking to make the switch. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

Stix’s letter to President Mandel follows.

February 4, 2026

Dear President Mandel,

I hope that you are having a great start to the new semester! My name is Betsy Stix, and I had the privilege of graduating from Williams in 1986. I will be attending our 40th reunion in June – I am so excited!  I was an English major and had the opportunity to study with so many incredible professors who instilled in me, among other things, the love of critical thinking and a deep desire to make the world a more compassionate place. I am so grateful to Williams! I went on to become a high school English and French teacher and then transitioned into politics in 2020. I just finished serving 2 terms as mayor of Ojai, California, and during my time in office I leaned heavily into the skills that I learned at Williams. One of the highlights of my time in office was passing two ordinances that protect animals. Ojai was the second city in the United States to ban glue traps, and the first city to ban the breeding of breathing-impaired cats and dogs. It was such an honor to be able to make the world a better place for animals.

I am writing to you today to ask you to consider another action that would benefit animals: installing a memorial plaque outside of Driscoll. This plaque is entitled the “Williams Animal Recognition Memorial,” and it challenges us to confront the realities of our food system and honor the millions of animals who were killed so that their bodies could be served in the dining hall. 

As a student at Williams, I was taught the critical importance of open dialogue and asked to examine all forms of oppression. In the dining hall, it’s all too easy to ignore the inarguable suffering of the cows, chickens, pigs, and other animals who are confined on industrial factory farms, abused, exploited, and killed before they end up on our plates. As fellow living beings who feel fear, pain, and stress and who value their lives just as we value our own, animals don’t deserve to be dismissed; they deserve our empathy and consideration. The plaque (a rendering of which is included below) is an invitation for everyone to consider the experiences of these sentient beings and a reminder that every meal offers us an opportunity to make kinder choices. 

This memorial project builds upon a longstanding tradition of concern for animals and the environment that is taught and promoted at Williams, which for decades has been led by students and faculty who care deeply about the ideals of non-violence, compassion, freedom, and justice. By installing a plaque that encourages us to recognize that these animals are worthy of our moral concern, we are striving to make sure that Williams’ core values of social responsibility, student engagement, and environmental sustainability are not just abstract ideals but consequential principles that guide the real-world decisions we make each day. I respectfully ask for your support in installing this plaque which will encourage thought, meaningful conversations, constructive disagreement, and help us become an even more intellectually honest, morally engaged campus and community.

Thank you for considering my request and for continuing to foster an environment that welcomes dialogue, reflection, and growth.

Sincerely,

Betsy Stix ‘86