Students launch Tufts Vegetarian Society

First-year students Dana Horowitz and Jennifer Sitiaev have been working to create an officially recognized Vegetarian Society, a student group dedicated to generating dialogue on campus about vegetarianism and veganism and fostering a community for vegetarian and vegan students.

"Our goal is to be a community of vegetarians/vegans in a meat-dominated society," Horowitz told the Daily in an email. "We want to provide film screenings, discussion groups and vegan food events throughout the semester.”

As co-presidents of the group, Horowitz and Sitiaev have been working with Director of the Office for Campus Life Joe Golia since last semester to gain temporary access to resources. They have already hosted a general interest meeting and planned several events, including a vegetarian Thanksgiving, according to Horowitz.

“Roughly 30-35 people were there," she said. "As a campus representative for PETA, I receive $500 per month that I have used to invest in the club."

The group also hosted a Pay for View to spread awareness, in which they tabled at the Mayer Campus Center and paid students to stop and watch a movie about animal agriculture.

Other events have included a film screening of "Cowspiracy" (2014) and a vegan hot chocolate giveaway at the Campus Center. The group has more programming in the works, according to Horowitz.

“People [who have attended our events so far] have seemed very interested and wanted to get more involved in the club," she said.

The e-board has also been meeting with Julie Lampie, nutrition and marketing specialist for Tufts Dining Services, to implement more vegan foods in Carmichael and Dewick-MacPhie Dining Centers, such as vegan cream cheese and vegan noodles.

Currently in the process of gaining Tufts Community Union recognition, the Tufts Vegetarian Society hopes to attract more members and become even more active on campus, according to Horowitz.

"Once we find a group of core committed members, we expect it to take off from there in the future," she said. "There are a lot of people [at Tufts] that are interested in learning about vegetarianism or have been practicing for years.”