Harvard Students Bring Cage-Free Campaign to University President

by Stephanie Feldstein · 2011-10-13 10:52:00 UTC
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Nearly 7,000 people have signed on to student Marina Bolotnikova's petition asking Harvard University to switch to 100 percent cage-free eggs.

Although she started the petition on Change.org, Bolotnikova says she can't take credit for how far the movement has come. "The campaign has been successful because the push for cage-free eggs is so basic and so uncontroversial that there is no segment of the student body that does not support it. We have gathered thousands of undergraduate and graduate student signatures, endorsements from many student organizations (including the Undergraduate Council), and nearly 7,000 supporters on Change.org."

Even the university's top administrator is on board. Earlier this week, Bolotnikova and a group of students met with Harvard President Drew Faust. She says President Faust was supportive and "encouraged us to continue working on this important issue and engaging with the Harvard Community."

"We plan to do just that," Bolotnikova says. "Though student and alumni demands for cage-free eggs have remained unanswered, we are hopful that Harvard University Dining Services, committed to justice and sustainability, will soon make the right decision."

Although Harvard uses some cage-free eggs, Bolotnikova explains that it's not enough. "The great majority of our eggs currently come from battery cage farms, facilities in which hens are caged and afforded an area smaller than that of a sheet of paper on which to live."

Bolotnikova and her classmates have been trying to convince the dining halls to go cage-free since January of this year. They were recently joined by twenty-two Harvard donors, who publicly pledged to withhold donations until the university made the humane switch. The Crimson wrote an article about the letter, including this scathing excerpt: "As a financial supporter of the College, I would like to think that my money is going to support an administration that is both responsive to its students and responsible towards the environment and animals."

Many of Harvard's peers — including Yale, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, Brandeis, and others — have already made the switch. Battery cages have even been unequivocally condemned by the City of Cambridge.

You can help crack Harvard by signing Marina Bolotnikova's petition asking for 100 percent cage-free eggs.

Photo credit: Farm Sanctuary

Stephanie Feldstein is a Change.org Editor who has been part of the animal welfare and rescue community for over a decade, and most recently worked for an environmental organization.

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