In the coming weeks, Boston University will be receiving a shipment of stickers to be distributed across campus, advocating for a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle on behalf of peta2, a subgroup of the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals. While promoting a healthy, cruelty-free lifestyle among a generation as progressive as ours is a positive initiative, doing so in a way that hints at propagandizing is unnecessary. BU is a diverse institution, welcoming students of all ethnicities and walks of life –– no one should be pressed upon the rest, especially not by an outside entity, regardless of the message. If BU wishes to advocate healthier eating habits, it should do so by its own means –– through offering more vegan and vegetarian options in its dining halls and retail dining spots and educating the student body about vegan/vegetarian lifestyles. Allowing peta2 to plaster campus with provocative stickers that literally shout a message that may not work for everyone is serving PETA more than it serves students.
Consider the situation if it were the meat industry wishing to spread the news about their business around campus instead of peta2 –– posters depicting steaks and burgers would do little to convert vegetarians, and would say nothing to carnivores. Neither group would benefit intellectually or socially, and isn’t that what college is about? With all of the distractions on Commonwealth Avenue that BU students face every day, it’s important that the administration finds a way to drown out the noise and focus on its sole task: educating its students. Allowing outside parties to propagandize and influence students’ lifestyle choices is neither the right nor the responsibility of the university.
A more integrated approach to teaching students about altering their diets for the better would be more appropriate than a flurry of preachy, lime-green stickers designed to isolate certain groups of students. Organizing on-campus seminars and talks from nutritionists, having student debates or opening an all-vegan eating destination on campus are all examples of ways BU can help transmit a positive message to students without relying on self-serving outsiders that have an agenda that isn’t complicit with that of university administration. Otherwise, the carnivore-vegetarian dilemma will only keep perpetuating the way it always has –– an overzealous shouting match.