PEACE Club raises awareness on health, environmental benefits of veganism

This week, two UC Davis fraternities battled it out in a competition centered around maintaining a diet completely free of animal products. Theta Xi and Theta Chi teamed up with Davis’ People for the Elimination of Animal Cruelty through Education club (PEACE) to compete in the campus’ first ever Vegan Frat Challenge.

“The Vegan Frat Challenge is basically where, for a week, we get two frats to go vegan,” said Emmanuelle Chicandard, a second-year animal biology major. “That means their entire house is going to be stocked with vegan food and [PEACE is] going to help them cook. I think we have a couple people every day going in for breakfast, lunch and dinner to help [guide] them cook vegan food.”

On Sunday, stewards from each fraternity accompanied PEACE members on a Costco run to pick up all the supplies necessary for the 18 or so fraternity members who live in each house. Groceries were funded by the national organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Taco Bell and Chipotle, while other foodstuffs were supplied by a few local and global plant-based companies.

PEACE designed a point system for the Vegan Frat Challenge as a way to encourage and reward the members involved. One fraternity took the championship crown and prize, but prizes were awarded to a first, second and third place individual in each fraternity as well.

“Eating a plant-based meal is 10 points, and [points are also given for] taking a photo of yourself or of your plant-based meal with the hashtag ‘vegan frat challenge’ [or] ‘VFC Theta Chi’ or ‘VFC Theta Xi,’” said McKenna Maxwell, a fourth-year environmental science and management major. “We can search through the hashtags and give points to each frat with those hashtags specifically. You can also get points for bringing friends to events and attending events yourself, and there will be a grand prize for the [winning] house […] of visiting the Animal Place animal sanctuary for free.”

Not only is the Vegan Frat Challenge a way of educating the members of the fraternities about healthy vegan eating and plant-based diets, but members also had the chance to gain points by attending events PEACE hosted throughout the week.

“One of the events we’re looking forward to is the vegan athlete speakers,” Maxwell said. “We’ll have three vegan athletes come who are YouTube famous […and] invite the frat community to see that. It’s to debunk the idea that [if] you’re vegan [you] can’t be strong. There’s a [lack of] education on this topic. That’s a big myth, especially for college-age students and the male population having this idea of veganism as not [providing] the protein that they need.”

Other events the club hosted throughout the week were film screenings of “Cowspiracy” and “What the Health,” as well as visual demonstrations on the Quad like the 360-degree virtual simulation of the life of a factory farm chicken through iAnimal and the Brave the Cage event.

“Brave the Cage is about factory farm hens, because a lot of them are stuck in tiny cages,” Chicandard said. “Even though we have this cage-free law going on, it takes awhile for farms to transition. So this [demonstration] shows basically a human-sized cage, and we try to stuff as many people in the cage as they would stuff hens, just to get that feeling of being in a cage.”

Like Maxwell said, there are some commonly held assumptions around veganism and fitness, like that being muscular is impossible with a vegan diet. PEACE intentionally focused the event on the male Greek community in order to dispel the stigma around veganism and masculinity as well as raise awareness for everyone across campus.

“Meat and masculinity are so tied together,” said Iliana Zisman, a third-year animal science major and president of PEACE. “The reason we are giving attention to the Greek community and the male Greek community in particular […is] because they deserve to have this education as well about this kind of lifestyle. It’s also showing vulnerability to care about something, which isn’t something to be ashamed of.”

The expectation of this event is not that members of Theta Chi and Theta Xi will emerge as vegans, but that PEACE will educate part of the Davis community about the health and ethical benefits of switching to a vegan or plant-based diet. PEACE hopes that the challenge will have inspired individuals to adopt more animal-friendly diet habits like “Meatless Mondays.”

“I think people, when they think of veganism they think it’s really difficult, but there are a lot of products that are good substitutes for things,” Chicandard said. “There are a lot of recipes that are really simple that you can do. It doesn’t have to be a complicated dish or anything like that. Like I don’t know how to cook and I don’t cook very often, but I’m still vegan.”

Animal consumption is tied to multiple environmental impacts such as deforestation, land use, waste and especially greenhouse gas emissions. Livestock and their byproducts account for roughly 51 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions not limited to carbon dioxide; these emissions also include methane and nitrous oxide, both greenhouse gasses with global warming potentials of 56 and 280 respectively and are far more destructive than carbon dioxide alone.  

“We believe the biggest way to make change is to educate and speak with each other and hear from each other and learn from each other,” Zisman said. “I think that for us this is more of a value system than it is a diet. It’s more about the basic concept of freedom for everyone to have a right to their own life and to not be dictated by another being, whether that’s a human or a non-human animal.”

Zisman herself faced no difficulties in adopting a plant-based diet, as she was able to make the change overnight. The decision to go vegan made logical sense; she should stop contributing to animal suffering since she loved animals and was going to dedicate her life to helping them. Now she’s the president of PEACE and feels her time educating students about the environmental, health and social justice issues tied to animals is time well spent.

“Of course, I’m not saying being vegan is flawless. There’s no way to be a human and be flawless,” Zisman said. “We’re still causing environmental harm, we’re still causing a lot of issues just by existing, but I think the tenet of veganism is do the best you can, and that can mean something different for everyone.”

Written by: Marlys Jeane — features@theaggie.org

There are many social pressures that contribute to an undeclared student’s pondering as their deadline to declare approaches. What is the opinion of your family? Your friends? Your professors? Brenna Dockter, a first-year transition coordinator in the College of Letters and Science, has something to say about these familial and social tensions.

“For some students, that’s really important,” Dockter said. “Their family has ideas and that will influence their decision.”

The social pressures of choosing a major seem to be widespread, indicating something not only about one’s position in their family or social groups, but also in the professional world. Wendy Haws, an academic advisor in the College of Letters and Science, notes this immense stress on undeclared students.

“It feels like it’s going to define your whole life,” Haws said. “And that’s one thing that we really work on, saying that your major doesn’t necessarily equate to a specific career.”

For second-year students who are currently undeclared, the deadline to declare is fast-approaching: 135 units completed. However, Dockter and Haws both encourage declaring during the 5th quarter (presumably this quarter) of enrollment. Their recommendation is not a random one, but rather one informed by research. Research done at UC Davis has indicated that declaring by the 5th quarter invites more positive educational outcomes, including on-time graduation.

On-time graduation is not the only advantage of declaring by the second year of enrollment. Immersion in major courses, relationships with professors and research opportunities number among the boons of being firmly rooted in a major.

“We want students to also get engaged with their major,” Haws said. “With the material, with the faculty, with research opportunities. If you’re waiting too late to do that, then you’re just limiting the amount of time that you can invest in that.”

Declaring a major is a benefit for technical reasons, too, according to peer advisor in the college of engineering and fifth-year mechanical engineering major Ryan De La Cruz Peterson.

“I knew who to go talk to,” De La Cruz Peterson said. “Whether it was my major advisor or what deans I needed to go to, so I kind of already knew the resources that were available […] I think that made it easier.”

But enough about the advantages to being declared. Haws, Dockter and De La Cruz Peterson, with research on their side, can attest to the logic behind being undeclared and the strengths it can cultivate within a student. Dockter addresses and protests the common misconception around the simultaneity of being undeclared and being academically behind.

“The research shows that students that come undeclared actually have slightly more positive educational outcomes than students who come declared,” Dockter said. “They don’t graduate later, they have a slightly higher GPA, so this is sort of earth shattering for some students to hear because […] there is this maybe myth out there that it’s really bad to be undeclared and the research kind of shows the opposite.”

What’s more is the emotional and practical logic of remaining undeclared at the beginning of college. Many students declare majors for which they’ve never taken a topic-specific course, or majors of which they are unfamiliar with the applicable professions. Haws understands what a formative time college can be.

“It makes sense at this point in people’s lives and developmentally to be exploring and figuring out who you are,” Haws said. “It makes sense that you would also be exploring what your major is going to be as part of that process.”

Dockter speaks to the expanding professional and academic awareness of early college students.

“In high school you’re lucky if you know up to ten categories for professional careers,” Dockter said. “When you get to college and there are over 100 majors at UC Davis to choose from, that just doesn’t quite match. And so an exploration process has to happen. All students are doing it, it just looks different across the majors.”

Dockter’s last sentiment may be on the minds of UC Davis students in STEM fields especially. It’s not rare to hear the tension between declaring a STEM major and remaining interdisciplinary, or exploring other fields, on such a balanced campus.

Pressures to accomplish prerequisites as a STEM major in which series courses are part and parcel of the experience can be a hindrance on maintaining a balanced schedule. While there are pressures to accomplish prerequisites, especially those in series’ courses, in order to graduate on time as an engineering or chemistry major, Dockter, Haws and De La Cruz Peterson beckon to the GE requirements as a built-in liberal arts and exploratory path for all students.

“Students are fortunate to be at UC Davis because of our large and diverse GE requirement that they have to take no matter what their major,” Dockter said. “So I feel like we’ve really set up the anatomy of the undergraduate degree to provide that interdisciplinary access to classes.”

In spite of and in addition to these GE requirements, Haws encourages active and conscious academic exploration to all students. This doesn’t mean avoiding the subject of majors, but rather making a plan and making choices to learn more about personal and professional aspirations. To do so, Haws and De La Cruz Peterson mentioned the Major Exploration Tool, which enables students to take a quiz based on their academic preferences. Haws has also developed a Fall Quarter freshman seminar to aid students in their major-discovery, which she hopes to evolve into a full class. To access more online major exploration, pursue Majors Card Sort Tool, What can I do with my major or degree? and Career Exploration by Interest Area.

For interpersonal support, students can join the SHCS’ Career Exploration Group and take a Career Assessment. The Student Health Center also offers one-on-one career counseling while the Internship and Career Center offers advising. Finally, taking AMS 195: Careers & Identity in American Culture can lead major-unsure students in the right direction.

Haws, Dockter and De La Cruz Peterson each had heartfelt messages for exploring students. Ultimately, advisors are in the business of guidance, refusing to leave students alone in an undeclared state, whether they like it or not.

“We really value our students and were prepared to help them strategically explore, even if they already have a major,” Dockter said.

Written by: Stella Sappington — features@theaggie.org

Students evaluate the sufficiency of women’s resources on campus

Women comprise 59 percent of UC Davis’ student body. With a demographic as substantial as this one, it is essential for the school to provide an ample amount of resources that are readily available and easily accessible to women. While the school does offer a wide range of women’s resources and services, including but not limited to those offered at the Women’s Resources and Research Center, many students feel that there is room for improvement.

Biana Giang, a second-year civil engineering major, believes the school has a bit of catching up to do when it comes to the amount of women’s resources available.

“The only [resource] that I’m aware of on campus is the WRRC in North Hall,” Giang said. “Other than that, I feel like there isn’t really anything else. There is always more that can be added.”

According to Giang, the school’s lack of attention in the advertising and promotion sector puts its existing resources at a slight disadvantage. Giang feels that, though the school offers certain resources for women, not enough students are aware of those resources.

“Other than what you get during orientation, or if you decide to take a class that will tell you about all the resources that are on campus, a lot of people aren’t aware of what [the school] does offer,” Giang said. “Having more advertisements or at least some more coverage on [existing resources] would definitely help.”

Mariana Huben, a fourth-year English and linguistics double major and editor-in-chief and campus correspondent for Her Campus at UC Davis, shared similar sentiments regarding the lack of campus efforts in publicizing women’s resources.

“As far as the resources go, [the school] is doing an amazing job,” Huben said. “It’s really just the promotion of those resources. And I think a big part of that is that [UC Davis] is just such a big school. You can only reach so many students through email. Only so many students actually check their emails regularly.”

Huben believes it’s the school’s duty to educate students on the resources that are available to them; failure to do so ultimately puts more responsibility on students to actively seek out the services and programs they need.

“I think you do have to seek out additional information a lot of the time,” Huben said. “There is a Society for Women Engineers if you’re in STEM and you want that cohort of just women, and if you’re into business there is Davis Women in Business and you can join that club. But you do have to step a bit outside of your comfort zone to get that information.”

Mirka Dirzo, second-year psychology and Chicanx studies double major, agrees that more can be done in order to ensure that women’s campus resources are up to par. Dirzo especially emphasizes the need for better accessibility for women seeking out these resources, especially considering the fact that most UC Davis students come from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.

“I do know that there’s a Plan-B vending machine in the ARC, but there are women [who come] from low-income households who can’t afford it,” Dirzo said. “Even if [certain resources] are available, it’s still a hassle to get them. It would be a lot more helpful to make [these resources] more accessible.”

Accessibility seems to be a crucial problem for many UC Davis students seeking campus resources. Angela Kim, fourth-year gender, sexuality and women’s studies and American studies double major and community organizer for the WRRC, also believes that the ease at which students can access their desired resources can definitely be improved upon.

“There are a lot of resources on campus, but I think it’s more of a matter of awareness and access […] and making these abundant resources that we have on campus more accessible,” Kim said. “If you think about it, when a student is in distress or [in a] crisis, they might not always have the resources right at hand.”

The WRRC, one of the more widely known resource centers on campus, provides an open space and open resources for individuals from all different communities to utilize. Many students are, however, reluctant to take the additional steps to obtain the resources they need because they don’t feel comfortable doing so.

“We at the WRRC are a service that offers so much gender and sex education,” Kim said, “[…] but people don’t take the initiative to reach out to us. It gets difficult when the UC Davis community is not doing [its] part to become more aware and more conscious.”

Kim stressed the importance of engaging in conversations that bring awareness to stigmatized topics, topics like HIV testing or the utilization of gender-neutral bathrooms, in order to destroy preconceived notions surrounding them. According to Kim, the negative connotations surrounding these topics prevent many resources offered on campus from being fully utilized.

“I think we can do a lot more to have conversations […] about things people might normally be uncomfortable with,” Kim said. “I think it’s a matter of being engaged with the community and coming to these different [resource] centers and educating yourself more about them.”

Written by: Emily Nguyen — features@theaggie.org