Northwestern - its decidedly non-vegan wildcat logo growling - was named the most vegetarian friendly college in the nation Tuesday morning by peta2, the youth division of People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals.
NU received the most of 10,000 total votes cast among 30 U.S. nominees for the honor, beating out big names like Yale, Brown and Georgetown universities.
Ryan Huling, peta2's college coordinator, said the nominations were based on information gathered from the Internet, then judged on a city-by-city basis.
"The main thing we're looking for when we're picking nominees are consistency and quality of the vegetarian options on campus," he said. "We need to make sure that the college is meeting the requests of students looking for healthier, more humane dining options."
Huling said NU's accomplishment in winning was more impressive because it wasn't on last year's list.
"Over the past year we got word about the expansion of the vegetarian options at NU and we put it on the list," Huling said. "The victory shows how stoked people are."
Long time vegetarian Andy Craig said as a freshman three years ago, vegetarian options were poor in choice and quality.
"Every day it was the same thing and none of it was healthy," the Communication senior said. "Everything that was vegetarian was covered in cheese or cream. Honestly, I put on a ton of weight from the dining hall."
Craig said by the time she started eating on campus again this year the vegetarian options had improved immensely.
Anne Vanosdol, an associate director of University Housing and Food Service in charge of conference planning and food service, said this improvement was the result of a concerted effort. About a year ago Vanosdol - herself a vegetarian for 17 years - took the initiative to include more vegetarian options in the dining halls.
"I knew that we could do more," Vanosdol said. "We wanted to have a fresh product and a more palate-forward product and a wider variety of products."
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 4
Alan
posted 11/14/07 @ 9:43 AM CST
This article makes me smile. I'm an NU alum who went vegan awhile after graduating. If these options existed while I was on campus, maybe I would've done it sooner. (Continued…)
Kelly
posted 11/14/07 @ 10:34 AM CST
Great news!! We rule!!
P.S. - Those dishes really are good. I had one yesterday.
Mykell Miller
posted 11/17/07 @ 6:01 PM CST
Who is this longtime vegetarian Andy Craig who uses female pronouns? I know a longtime vegetarian Andy Cray who uses male pronouns. Hmm, I believe he said something about being interviewed by the Daily for this article. (Continued…)
Ivy
posted 11/19/07 @ 2:49 AM CST
Dining halls, maybe. I haven't eaten in an NU dining hall since sophomore year, 05-06.
HOWEVER, the three nights a week that my vegan self must spend in Norris past 7pm are rough on the food front. (Continued…)
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