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Vanderbilt University - Off to a Great Start

Students at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee are off to a great start with their student organization. The Vanderbilt Vegetarian Society email list has grown to over ten times what it was at the beginning of the semester, a number of students have helped set up info tables around campus, they held a campus-wide Tofurky contest in time for the holidays, and there was even a huge picture from a recent KFC protest in their student paper!

Betsy Thomas, a junior originally from the DC area, submitted an excellent letter to the editor. You can read it here. For her efforts, she gets any item under $10 from PETACatalog.org.

Congrats to the students working hard over there. If you want to get more involved on your campus, drop us an email at PETA2@peta.org and we'll send you all the free posters, stickers, and info you need to get started!

Posted by pulinm at 03:23 PM | Comments (0)

Demand Liberation!

What do you get when one crazy chicken, ten Coronel Sanders look-alikes, 30 student activists and the best animal rights organizers meet at the Harvard Law School?

If you guessed Demand Liberation -the nation's best student animal rights conference - then you are correct!

This weekend, students from Virginia to Maine met in Boston for coalition building, strategy workshops, hands-on trainings, one amazing KFC protest and tons of fun! Presentations included campus organization building, public speaking, organizing demos, working with the media and tips for effective advocacy.

You can check out the Student Animal Rights Alliance Blog for pictures from the conference. Here's what the students attending had to say:

"Very positive/uplifting, motivating."

"Out of all the conferences I’ve been to, I feel like this is the one I’ve learned the most from."

"Everybody here was so hot!!"

"I really appreciate this conference. Larger conferences are great too, but I feel like so much is accomplished in this small setting. The food was incredible. Yum. Thank you so much to the organizers and presenters for all you do."

Want to catch the next Demand Liberation? We'll be hosting three more conferences in February 2005: Gainsville, Austin & Minneapolis!

Posted by loringh at 05:11 PM | Comments (0)

Humane Week

Last week Protecting Animal Welfare and Safety (PAWS) of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island hosted the first ever Humane Week.

The week of vegetarian activism kicked off with "The Veg Pledge", which encoruaged student to try vegetarianism for one week. The efforts of PAWS activists were bolstered by the Dining Service Management who agreed to serve no fewer than three vegetarian entrees at every meal.

The Humane Week also featured a presentation of "Goodbye, Green Pastures!" -a survey of the environmental impacts of factory farming by Loring Harkness of PETA.

The following night students enjoyed screenings of the movies "Peaceable Kingdom" and "The Witness" while munching on soy milk and vegan cookies.

Activists also braved the sleet and cold to host a vegan BBQ, where they invited fellow students to try free samples of Gardenburger Vegan Riblets. One activist dressed in a pink pig costume and held a sign that read, "No! I don't have any spare ribs!" Activists distributed over 150 samples and received press coverage by local radio stations and newspapers.

PAWS capped off this amazing week of vegetarian activism by hosting a vegan banquet on Saturday night. Everyone who had taken "The Veg Pledge" was invited to attend.

The amazing response to Humane Week by Brown University students encouraged PAWS to pursue more vegetarian activism in the future. PAWS has already taken steps to make the vegetarian entrees a permanent fixture in the cafeteria and has plans to place newspaper stands full of Vegetarian Starter Kits in prominent locations around campus.

Posted by loringh at 03:07 PM | Comments (0)

Liberation Now!

It's not every weekend that 300 kids assemble in front of a Nieman Marcus store and in unison chant "Nieman Carcass! How many animals did you kill today?" through bullhorns or 20 activists behind Colonel Sanders masks march in a parade giving out stickers depicting the Colonel slitting the throat of a bloody chicken. Conferences such as Liberation Now offer hundreds of young animal rights activists from all over the world, including star street teamer Kevin Loder from Oregon, a chance to get together to learn, discuss and get active.

Among some of the other exciting events happening this past weekend in Berkeley, California were: Carroll Adams speaking on the link between feminist critical theory and animal rights, one activist dressing up like a giant bunny and handing out "Be a Bunny’s Honey" stickers at a Halloween parade, reflections on the animal rights movement's light-speed progress from Paul Shapiro of Compassion Over Killing, Michael Gregor, M.D., talking on globalization and the animal rights movement, Bruce Friedrich speaking on effective advocacy for animals and Alka Chandna speaking on working for an animal rights organization.

There were tons of workshops on everything from "Pursuing a Career in Pre-law" to "How We Did an Open Rescue". We all had a chance to ask some of the big names in animal advocacy all of those questions that have been eating away at us, while we ate away at some of the best vegan food I’ve had in a long time.

If you’re interested in networking with activists in your area, learning more about effective advocacy techniques, learning more about animals rights, eating great vegan food, or just having fun while fighting for a cause, you should definitely check out DemandLiberation.com and come to one of the regional conferences in Philadelphia, Boston, Gainesville, Austin & Minneapolis.

Posted by dwilson at 02:44 PM | Comments (2)

Election Day

Today marks our nation's presidential election, and like most Americans you're taking this historic opportunity to raise your voice for animals. But which presidential candidate is the most compassionate toward animals? Look no further than Chris P. Carrot!

Chris P. Carrot’s message of compassion and health has already reached thousands of people across the country. After two rounds of successful campaigning in Beantown and the Big Apple during the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, Chris P. Carrot is now asking Americans everywhere to get back to their roots, not to mention their fruits and vegetables. If everyone took Chris P. Carrot’s vegetarian message to heart, America’s health would improve dramatically and billions of animals would be spared. Vote Carrot 2004!

Posted by loringh at 04:40 PM | Comments (0)

Veg Nutrition 101

Sick of people asking you about getting enough vitamin B12 or amino acids on a vegan diet? Then take a tip from PSTAR (Penn Students for Animal Rights) and educate your classmates with a quick and easy Veg Nutrition 101 class!

Today members of PSTAR hosted a Veg Nutrition 101 class the University of Pennsylvania. Their 40 minute to 1 hour Powerpoint presentation focuses on all the major macronutrients (carbs, fats, proteins) and the many of the micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) that compromise a healthy vegetarian diet. The presentation also debunks common myths about vegetarian diets, evaulates some of the new fad diets, offers insights to general health issues, and informs students about the vegetarian and vegan options available in the University of Pennsylvania's dining halls.

During the lecture, a PSTAR chef prepared healthy, easy-to-make, and relatively inexpensive vegetarian recipes that any college student can whip up. Samples were distributed throughout the presentation.

After the presentation concluded, students asked questions while they enjoy a FREE VEGAN MEAL (provided by the college house and catered by a local vegan restaurant who agreed to donate the food), and tons of literature. Recipes were also available for the students to take.

Want to host a Veg Nutrition class at your college? Give Peta2 a holler and we'll help get you started!

Posted by loringh at 10:42 AM | Comments (1)