Pitzer College Students, Faculty, and Alumni Urge School to be on ‘The Right Side of History’ with ‘Shocking Truth’ Plaque for Animals Killed for Dining Hall Meals

For Immediate Release:
February 11, 2026

Contact:
Alex Payne 202-483-7382

Los Angeles –

“Let’s not wait 50 years as we have with other rights issues!” At Pitzer College, a coalition of students, faculty, and alumni sent a letter today to college President Strom Thacker, requesting the installation of a memorial plaque on the school’s McConnell Dining Hall to commemorate the millions of chickens, cows, fish, pigs, and other living beings who have been killed and served as food there. The coalition believes it will not only start a conversation about the value of not eating meat to animals, human health, and the environment, but also that the plaque may well influence other schools to do the same.

The proposed plaque’s inscription emphasizes how cows, calves, chickens, and pigs may not look like us, but they feel love, joy, pain, and fear just as humans do, yet that is brushed aside as they are raised on filthy, crowded factory farms and endure a petrifying journey to slaughter to meet a violent death. PETA points out that the college’s dining hall can easily eliminate such cruelty, as it has already acknowledged the student body’s vegan food requests by offering a plethora of tasty, plant-powered options.

“If we oppose cruelty and believe that the domination of others is wrong, our college must recognize that, although it can’t undo the terror and pain of animals who ended up in Pitzer’s dining hall, a memorial is a first step to acknowledging that their lives had value and taking them was wrong,” says PETA Special Projects Coordinator and Pitzer alumna Ella Rosenblatt, who co-authored the letter. “The Pitzer Animal Recognition Memorial can help students and faculty recognize that all sentient beings deserve respect and compassion by 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 Pitzer to be on the right side of history by embracing this memorial’s compassionate message now, not 50 years from now.”

Each person who goes vegan spares nearly 200 animals every year, dramatically shrinks their food-related carbon footprint, and slashes their risk of suffering from cancer, heart disease, strokes, diabetes, and obesity. PETA’s free vegan starter kit is filled with tips to help anyone thinking of making the switch.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

PETA’s letter to Thacker follows.

February 11, 2026

Dear President Thacker:

We hope you’ve had a good start to the new semester. We, the undersigned 5C students, alumni, and faculty, are writing to respectfully request the installation of a memorial plaque outside of McConnell. This plaque is entitled the “Pitzer Animal Recognition Memorial,” and it challenges us to confront the realities of our food system and honor the millions of animals who have been killed so that their bodies could be served in the dining hall. Please let us elaborate:

As students, we are taught the critical importance of open dialogue and asked to examine all forms of oppression, yet, 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 Pitzer and across the 5Cs, which has been led for decades 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 Pitzer’s 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. We 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 our request and for continuing to foster an environment that welcomes dialogue, reflection, and growth.

Sincerely,

Ella Rosenblatt, Pitzer ‘23

With the support of:

Bill Anthes, Chair, 5Cs Intercollegiate American Studies Program and Professor, Art Field Group

Hava Chishti, Pitzer ’23

Claire Coen, Pitzer ‘23

Celia Dreycott, Pitzer ‘24

Leah Harrison-Lurie, Pitzer ‘25

Elizabeth Holtz, Pomona ‘07

Beatrice Hruska, Scripps ‘25

Talya Kaltman-Kron, Pitzer ‘24