Energized from a powerhouse internship during the summer of 2010 at the largest animal rights organization in the world, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), I had this crazy idea that I could change the world one plate at a time.
So in July 2010, I began working on changing the way the sixth-largest university in the nation ate every Monday by embarking on a revolutionary Meatless Monday campaign.
My phone bills were enormous those first few months from gathering national endorsements from organizations like the Humane Society and the Earth Day Network. I didn't get much sleep as I worked to collect almost 2,500 petition signatures from Gators who also thought we should revisit the idea of what we eat on Mondays.
And in November 2010, only four months after I began galvanizing support from all of you at the largest land-grant university in the Southeast, UF's Gator Dining Services agreed it wanted to help change the world - one meatless plate at a time.
Sort of.
I was both ecstatic and shocked when I heard UF's food services agreed to discuss my proposal to have a vegetarian menu in its two on-campus dining halls, Gator Corner Dining Center and Broward Dining Hall, on Mondays. Gator Dining Services' sustainability coordinator met with me and unfurled beautiful, new, specific-to-UF Meatless Monday posters and placards to be placed at both dining halls to alert hungry Gators to UF's new commitment to healthy, sustainable and ethical dining.
That was almost a year ago, and that's where we are now.
Now it's time to judge.
The first round of voting in PETA's annual most-vegan-friendly college poll ends today. It's up to all of us how we should vote. Before you head to peta2.com to vote, consider this: It's up to all of us, not just the vegan and vegetarian Gators, but it's up to all of us how we should reward our university.
As the organizer of the Mondays campaign at UF, I will be the first one to say our dining staff is wonderful. I know most of them personally, and they're all genuinely fantastic people.
And so this is nothing personal, but we can do better.
As Gators, we have to decide: Do we reward UF with a vote as the most vegan-friendly college for creating an extremely extensive vegetarian and vegan dining guide for all restaurants on campus? Or do we vote for one of its competitors because UF's sluggish movement toward a truly Meatless Monday, which has been publicly endorsed by both GatorWell and UF's Office of Sustainability, deserves to be noted?
Do we vote for UF as the most vegan-friendly college in the nation for maintaining at least one vegan station at both dining halls at lunch and dinner, or do we vote for one of its competitors because UF refuses to listen to the nearly 2,500 of you who last year publicly called for a Meatless Monday?
The decision is up to you.
For me, I will be voting in favor of UF and Gator Dining Services. The work being done at UF, while extremely slow, is undoubtedly meaningful. At one of the nation's largest schools, UF has the unique potential to set the course for the rest of the nation by offering a truly Meatless Monday in its two dining halls.
But my vote will be used as more of a call to action. My vote will be used to show UF how much more can be done to ensure we all have the ethical and sustainable dining we deserve.
It was the late Steve Jobs who said, "The ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do."
Let's be crazy, Gators. Let's help UF change the world.
Vote today by 5 p.m. at peta2.com.
