Students thank FLIK in the fight for a cage-free SLC

by Students Promoting Awareness of Animal Rights

Tuesday February 19, 2008

Sarah Lawrence has long been a leader on many important issues, including women’s rights and environmental protection. Recently, with the help of SPAAR, HSUS, and Flik Dining Services, SLC amplified its commitment to social responsibility by joining an important animal welfare trend that affects hundreds of thousands of animals each year.

Egg-laying hens are perhaps the most abused animals in the already notoriously cruel world of factory farming. Almost 280 million of these birds are cramped into tiny “battery cages” too restrictive for them even to spread their wings. They are unable to engage in many of their most important natural behaviors such as dust bathing, perching, scratching, and even walking. For more than a year, each hen lives in roughly 67 square inches of space—an area smaller than a single sheet of paper.

In our country the past three years have seen increasing corporate moves away from battery cage cruelty: Fast-food chains Burger King, Carl’s Jr., and Hardee’s have started using cage-free eggs. Compass Group, the largest food service company in the world, is phasing in cage-free eggs for all of its U.S. clients. The cafeterias at the House of Representatives, AOL, Microsoft, and Google use cage-free eggs. And more than 300 universities across the country have enacted policies to either switch entirely to – or increase their use of – cage-free eggs, including Stanford, Dartmouth, Harvard, Georgetown, Princeton, University of Wisconsin, and UC Berkeley.

SPAAR initiated the cage free campaign just over one year ago with the help of Denise Sombat from Flik Dining Services, Josh Balk from the Factory Farming division of HSUS, and a petition filled with hundreds of signatures from the SLC community. Currently, cage-free shell eggs are used across the board in Bates, Health Food Bar and Siegel center. Cage-free liquid eggs are being phased in as product becomes available in the quantities we need to be used in all Flik Dining Locations. With companies such as Compass Group that supply SLC also going cage-free, it’s only going to get easier for the entire campus to stop using eggs from battery cage hens.

We are tremendously proud that SLC has joined this growing movement away from confining hens in battery cages. Sarah Lawrence has ensured that less tuition money will support animal welfare standards that are inconsistent with our school’s commitment to social responsibility.

Thanks to SLC Flik dining services and the college as whole for doing the right thing and making the campus community proud.