By Michelle Lim Journal Contributor
If you are an undergraduate at Suffolk living on-campus, you probably know about the scrambled eggs and omelets served at 150 Tremont and Miller Hall for breakfast. But are you aware that Sodexo, Suffolk’s dining service, obtains their eggs from caged chickens?
The topic has not gone unnoticed, thanks to senior Kristin Alvarez and junior Caroline Mcheffey among others. Rather, more attention has been drawn to the issue because of them. To consider the switch from battery cage eggs to using eggs from non-caged chickens, Sodexo demanded student support. Beginning by pitching a presentation of the inhumane practices the chickens undergo to the Student Government Association (SGA), five hundred student signatures were then garnered to increase their stance—an amount of students no other group has paralleled to back a matter. Alvarez additionally got groups such as the Suffolk Radio Station and the Environmental Club to show their support.
After drafting a bill that would later be proposed to Sodexo, senior and SGA senator-at-large Jarrett Wadbrook took hold of the preliminary statement written by SGA members including Senator William Cerullo, Senator Vito Gallo, Senator Natalie Breen and Senator Riley Sweeney. It was Wadbrook who completely finalized the bill himself and sent it in to SGA for approval in November 2011. The bill was passed by the SGA and subsequently brought to Sodexo.
Wadbrook says, “It will be better off for Sodexo to change over and shy away from battery-caged eggs because it’s good for a school to take in students’ opinions and not to support inhumane treatment of animals.” A vegetarian himself for his third year because of opposition to animal cruelty is the reason behind Wadbrook following through with the completion of the bill.
From initially taking action with The Humane League, a Philadelphia-based organization big on animals’ rights that has opened a Boston office, to the idea against the purchase of battery cage eggs fully developing at Suffolk with the help of SGA, it has eventually presented itself to the Sodexo team. While the jury is still out, it is hopeful that Sodexo will switch over to using eggs from non-caged chickens. Perhaps the biggest obstacle to reaching a decision is the increase in tuition. While Sodexo is calculating exact costs, however, estimations range that the meal plan will increase about $6 to $7 dollars. Meanwhile, on average, meal plans at universities can increase up to $75 yearly for no particular reason. What is more, health risks are more highly associated with battery cage eggs.
Mcheffey, also a vegetarian for three-and-a-half years and passionate about animals, strongly attests to Sodexo discontinuing the purchase of battery cage eggs. “It’s a very small switch that changes quite a bit for not only animals, but human health, the environment, and worker conditions,” she says of the matter.
Although there is no exact date set, let’s hope that Sodexo agrees with the students who feel passionately against these practices and that the eggs for breakfast next school year come from cage-free chickens.
