Over the past few weeks, fundamental human rights have come under assault: reproductive rights, LGBTQ freedoms, and freedom of religion. Foremost among these wrongdoings, however, is the persistence of Meatless Monday in the Columbia Dining Hall schedule.
President Bollinger must understand that this kind of dietary intolerance will not be accepted by our community. Only by coming together can we ensure he knows that after a long day of napping in Butler, our tired souls require more sustenance than “okra and chive soup” can provide.
To be clear, this is not about narrow-minded environmental objectives or divisive identity politics. Indeed, some of my best Barnard friends spend half their lives at Sweetgreen. But if you are not a meat eater, I call on you to be an ally. The nature of our tyrannical political climate demands that we ALL fight to protect our fundamental rights. Especially when those rights concern shoving animal caracses into our faces.
We’ve all experienced the disappointment of walking into John Jay on a Monday afternoon, fresh off a weekend of greasy chicken quesadillas and 14-oz hamburgers, only to find samosas and spinach. This is not just a pathetic excuse for a meal; it is an affront to the values upheld by our well-nourished Founding Fathers.
To say that Meatless Mondays don’t affect your dietary habits is a privilege, but this oppression will eventually affect us all. The vegetarian agenda has already leaked into the rest of the week, with meat-free options appearing on Tuesdays and even Wednesdays. One Friday morning, the John Jay omelette station even ran out of bacon. So remember: first they may come for the ground beef, and you may not speak out, but who will be there to speak out when they come for your GMO-filled tofu?
