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Meat-free Mondays battle ongoing at Somerville

A JCR motion proposing ‘meat- free Mondays’ at Somerville College has caused split opinion amongst undergraduates.

The motion to provide only vegetarian choices in the Dining Hall on Mondays was put to the JCR at the end of Michaelmas term, and

initially passed with 27 students voting for the motion and 20 against. Two students abstained.

However, once the motion was passed, Somerville students who were unhappy about the result took to their college Facebook page, the ‘Somerville JCR noticeboard’. Marsha Sudar, Somerville JCR President, told Cherwell, “There was constant posting for a good three hours, and a group created against the motion. Nothing like this has happened at Somerville before. I’ve only been here two years, however I’ve been told by grad students who were at Somerville three or four years ago that there really never has been such a passionate response from the JCR to a JCR motion.”

One student, in opposition to the motion, wrote: “The funniest thing is, you’ve all ignored the fact that the college veggie options are uniformly awful…Why not vote for something everyone can get behind (and that there’s actually a chance that college will listen to you about) and petition them to make more palatable veggie meals?”

Another stated on the page, “I just can’t believe people complain about the motion passing, when they were too ‘busy’ for the 15 minutes that the motion lasted to attend, yet they somehow have the time to make hours of fuss over it straight after.”

A petition against the motion was handed to Sudar and a referendum on the issue was then called. One poster encouraging students to oppose the motion stated, “As adults, why are we being limited in what we can eat?” However, in response, Somerville student Richard Nias noted, “Hall not serving a certain type of meal does not stop you eating it. There are things called supermarkets and kitchens.”

Sudar further commented that, despite the heated discussion of the Facebook group, “Hustings went quite smoothly. It was exactly what the JCR executive had hoped for: an open discussion about various facets of the issue at hand. Around 50 people came, and many agreed afterwards that it was a very positive and worthwhile event.”

Somerville student Florence Avery agreed that it had been a positive experience. She commented, “I’m glad it passed and I think the discussion really got people thinking more about the impact of their food, which is great. Our JCR President, Marsha, handled everything brilliantly. It all happened really close to the end of term but she got straight on it and organised hustings and the referendum really efficiently.”

Other Oxford students were also receptive to the idea of ‘Meat Free Mondays’. Jamie Harris, founding member of Oxford Students for Animals, a group campaigning to increase vegetarian and vegan options throughout the University, commented, ‘Meat Free Mondays’ is a fantastic idea. With a bit of luck and lots of campaigning, hopefully the concept, or something similar, can be established more widely in public and private institutions throughout the country.”

Despite opposition, the motion still stood. With a turnout of 54 per cent, 119 people voted in favour of the motion, with 91 against. Nine people abstained. The Somerville JCR are now waiting for a response from the Somerville MCR before they approach the catering department.

‘Meat-free Mondays’ faced similar controversy at Wadham this time last year, as their SU voted to re- instate a meat option on Monday after a two-year involvement in the campaign. 

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