Wesleyan Crowned Most Vegan-Friendly College in U.S.

Good ol’ Wesleyan was crowned Most Vegan-Friendly College in the United States by Peta2, beating out 32 other “small U.S. schools” for the prize. Oberlin finished second and Warren Wilson College snatched up third in the competition. On the “big U.S. schools” side, UC-San Diego took home the gold as Cornell and University of North Texas nabbed silver and bronze respectively.

The description on Peta2 about Wesleyan’s vegan-friendliness reads as follows:

When a school has chefs who specialize in vegan desserts on staff, you know you’re in for a treat. Last year’s edible Halloween vegan display was a “graveyard” with tombstones of vegan chocolate and hills of vegan cake. This year’s theme, Gotham City, even included a vegan chocolate-molded Batmobile! If you’re not in the mood for sweets, have no fear. With innovative entrées, including vegan fettuccine Alfredo, Aloo gobi, and Mongolian seitan with wild rice salad and cranberries, students can always find a cruelty-free meal anywhere on campus.

However, Wes dining’s winning streak has not been without its disputes. Controversy struck Wesleyan’s 2009 win for most vegetarian-friendly college when several students had issues with voting practice and procedures. First, people asked how we can compare ourselves to other schools in terms of ‘vegan-ness’. Most of us haven’t eaten the vegan dining options at our own university let alone other universities. The question of who actually eats vegan food at Wesleyan was also brought into question (hint: many people who frequent the vegan section in the ‘Dan aren’t vegan). In addition, there were some suspicious bribery tactics from the dining staff back in ’09 (apparently they gave out free candy to anyone who voted for Wes, regardless of if they were vegan eaters or not).

Despite what seems to be a burgeoning black market for Wesleyan in Peta2 contests, kudos guys, we’re the most vegan-happy.