Will the University of Windsor Join the Cage-Free Egg Movement?

by Meredith Slater · 2011-06-23 08:10:00 UTC
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Canada's University of Windsor brands itself as a progressive institution whose mission is "enabling people to make a better world through education, scholarship, research and engagement." But one University of Windsor student thinks the school could do a bit more to live up to that mission.

Waheeda Ekhlas Smith, a Windsor law student and President of the University's Student Animal Legal Defense Fund, is challenging the college to join a growing number of schools that support humane and sustainable food by buying only cage-free eggs.

"I did not know about battery cages until a few years ago," said Ekhlas Smith. "When I found out about their existence, I was shocked." What she learned was that conventional eggs typically come from factory farms, where hens are crammed together and confined in small cages, unable to even spread their wings or turn around. According to The Humane Society of the United States, "each caged laying hen is afforded only 67 square inches of cage space—less space than a single sheet of letter-sized paper on which to live her entire life." These inhumane conditions are not only bad for hens, they increase the occurrence of salmonella and other bacterial contamination, endangering the health of consumers who purchase these factory farmed eggs.

The University of Windsor has already moved toward becoming a sustainable institution through initiatives to recycle cooking oil, reduce landfill waste, go styrofoam-free, and serve Fair Trade-certified coffee and tea. The school also has a cage-free egg option available at its Crocodile Grill in Vanier Hall, but it charges an additional $0.25 per egg for students who opt for this sustainable, healthy option. Now is the time for the University of Windsor to take that next step and become a totally cage-free school.

If you want to support humane, healthy eggs, sign Waheeda's petition demanding that the University of Windsor serve only cage-free eggs. If the University of Windsor really wants to live up to its mission of making the world a better place, it could start by improving its eggs.

Photo Credit: Matt Browne via flickr

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