PETA Petition Prompts Vegan Options at University of Alabama in Huntsville

Hundreds of Students Join a Successful Drive to Have Healthy, Humane Fare Served in the School’s Dining Halls

For Immediate Release:
May 2, 2013 

Contact:
Shakira Croce 202-483-7382

Huntsville, Ala. — Thanks, in part, to a petition drive by peta2, PETA’s youth division, which gathered a whopping 270 student signatures in one day, the University of Alabama in Huntsville has become the latest campus to offer a variety of healthy, humane, and Earth-friendly vegan options in its dining halls. The University of Alabama joins a fast-growing list of colleges and universities that are acceding to the demands of students for more vegan options. Dining Services has confirmed that it is working to add vegan cheese and almond milk and thatits renovated dining facility will have vegan and vegetarian entrées at each meal.

“More students than ever are choosing vegan meals out of concern for their health, the environment, and animals,” says peta2 Director Marta Holmberg. “Young people go to college to learn, but it’s nice to see a university that’s open-minded enough to learn a lesson or two from its students.”

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. Just in the last year, the University of North Texas and the University of California–San Diego have opened fully vegan dining halls.

In addition to causing animal suffering on a massive scale, meat, eggs, and dairy products contain no fiber and are loaded with artery-clogging saturated fat and cholesterol. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, vegetarians are less prone to heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and cancer than meat-eaters are. Also, raising animals for food is a leading cause of water pollution, land degradation, and the greenhouse-gas emissions responsible for climate change.

For more information, please visit peta2.com.