Vegetarians unite in new group

In the fall, Penn became the last Ivy League university to establish a group promoting vegetarian interests when two freshmen created the Penn Vegetarian Society, according to the club's Facebook group.

In the past month, the group has worked with the Undergraduate Assembly and Penn Dining Services to create a Nutrition Week.

The Penn Vegetarian Society will "speak for a growing student population interested in a plant-based diet," said College freshman Victor Galli, PVS's president and one of the group's co-founders.

Although the club aims "to move all members to veganism," according to its Facebook group, the group's members include some meat eaters.

College freshman and PVS secretary Pratima Bhattacharyya, who is not a vegetarian, said "the emphasis is not on converting people" but rather on "eating healthier."

"The club has raised my awareness of other things that go into my food," such as additives, she said.

The Facebook group also notes that the remaining seven Ivies already have similar groups.

And Penn's club has already had an impact on campus, such as during Penn Dining's Nutrition Week.

"They helped us brainstorm about things to offer during Nutrition Week," said Dining Services Marketing manager Jessica Goldberg.

Dining Services district executive chef Joel Blice said PVC assisted with a vegan-recipe contest, and he said some of the recipes could be used next year in the dining halls.

"We blended this idea of promoting plant-based options with a national nutrition month," said Galli.

However, some of the society's efforts have not been without controversy.

At the March 29 meeting of the Undergraduate Assembly, PVS asked the UA to support the Nutrition Week, which College sophomore and chairman of the UA's Sustainability, Safety, and Facilities committee Alec Webley, who worked on the bill with Galli, called a "nutritious food extravaganza with Penn Dining to publicize vegan foods."

"It's about making sure Penn Dining was catering to everyone, meat eaters and vegans alike," he said.

However, the UA eventually sent the bill back to committee for further editing and review, said Engineering senior and UA member Jordan Mendel, who opposed the bill.

"It was very clear once we got into discussion that it wasn't framed under the normal auspices of nutrition," he said. "Vegan diet and nutrition were interchangeable."

Mendel said he is not opposed to students advocating for this but said, "I'm just not convinced that it was in the best interests of Penn students the way it was phrased."

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