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Wadham cancels plan for vegan-only meals

Wadham College’s Student Union (SU) has announced that it will not continue with a motion passed in June, which had mandated the Hall to serve only vegan food for five nights a week.

The College made the announcement on its website on behalf of Lucy Halton, SU President, and Diana Greenwald, MCR President. The Warden of Wadham, Ken Macdonald QC, confirmed this announcement and stated, “While every effort is made to accommodate specific dietary needs, the College has no plans to serve exclusively vegan food.”

The original motion was justified on the grounds of environmentalism. It noted that “immediate and drastic action is needed to battle climate change…serving vegetarian food for five days of the week gives a strong message on where the college stands on climate change and reducing the college’s own carbon emissions.”

The Vegan Society had praised Wadham for the decision to stop serving meat. Amanda Baker, senior advocacy officer, commented that “good vegan-friendly food is great for everyone, especially in higher education. This is because imaginative plant-centred dishes ‘tick’ so many boxes: delicious, varied, inclusive, environmentally sustainable and cost-effective for university and other caterers.”

The motion however had also received some significant criticism since its inception. Ben Szreter, who inserted the amendment to introduce vegan nights for five days a week instead of the initially proposed idea of having vegetarian food only on four, openly stated at the time that he did not actually support the motion. The motion was also criticized for potentially deterring future applicants.

Alexander Walker, leader of the ‘No To Meat-Free Mondays’ campaign, told Cherwell, “The vegan motion was considered a joke motion at the time and it would not have passed if that had not been the case. We did not realise how bad the motion would be for the reputation of the college and there lies a lesson for how to consider these sorts of motions in the future.”

Both the SU President and MCR President remain committed to Wadham’s ‘Meat-Free Mondays’ policy, which sees no meat served at dinner on Mondays. They were also keen to stress that vegan food will still be available to all students who opt for it.

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