For the past week, the Brandeis Real Food Coalition, an alliance of around 30 students who advocate using more organic and local foods, has been circulating a petition around campus suggesting that University Dining Services use only cage-free eggs, In addition to the Real Food Coalition's petition, the Student Union issued a survey polling students' opinions on switching to only cage-free eggs. The survey was conducted through both e-mails and face-to-face surveys.

Cage-free eggs are eggs that come from hens that are raised in much more humane conditions than battery-caged hensAccording to the Humane Society, the nations' largest animal protection organization, caged hens are controversial because they pose intolerable treatments for the animals that they contain by preventing them from engaging in a multitude of natural behaviorial tendencies such as nesting, perching, and dustbathing.

Seth Grande '12, one of the coordinators of the cage-free campaign, said that battery-caged eggs come from an environment where six to seven hens are kept in a cage together, resulting in each hen only getting a space roughly the size of a sheet of notebook paper in which to live.

According to Grande, over 1,200 people on campus have ratified the petition so far. He said that the Real Food Coalition started work on the cage-free eggs campaign at the beginning of this academic year.

In an interview with the Justice, Grande said that he believes the method in which cage-free eggs are produced is incompatible with the mantra of social justice that defines the University, which is why he is adamant about ensuring they are prominent in dining services and are easily accessible for students.

"The way battery-caged eggs are produced is inhumane and is contrary to the values of our university," he said.

The survey from the Student Union asked students if they would support a switch to using only cage-free eggs on campus and if they would still support that switch if it caused meal plans to increase in price.

Student Union President Daniel Acheampong '11 said in an interview with the Justice that the participant turnout for the survey was "impressive;" 877 students contributed their opinions through either the online survey or the face-to-face method.

According to the results that Acheampong e-mailed to the Justice, 781 students, 89 percent of those surveyed, said they would support the switch, while 96 students said they would not. For the second question, he said that 557 students said they would still support the switch if it caused an increase in the price of meal plans while 320 said they would not.

"The cost was the number-one reason for people saying no [to the switch to cage-free eggs]. If there wasn't a cost factor, I think everyone would have said yes," Acheampong said.

"They never get a chance to walk around, open their wings or do anything that chickens should be doing, so we decided we were going to do something about it," Grande said.

The issue of cage-free eggs has manifested itself on campus previously.

In 2008, Brandeis students ran a similar campaign, which resulted in what Grande referred to as the "cage-free compromise." This compromise resulted in cage-free eggs being served as an option for students when they order an omelet or eggs from Sherman Dining Hall or Usdan Café.

Grande said that this compromise is not effective for a few reasons. He explained that all baked goods and other food products that contain eggs on campus were cooked with battery-caged eggs, so students do not get a choice with those products and the additional effort and extra cost required to obtain cage-free eggs makes students less likely to order them. He also said that the cage-free option has not been advertised, and often, dining services just does not have the eggs available even to those who request them.

"These factors really mean that the cage-free option doesn't do a lot to [actually] address the problem on campus," Grande said.

If the University does switch over to using only cage-free eggs, meal plans will have a slight increase in price. Grande said that while he cannot provide a specific numerical price increase for the University, he has "been speaking with outside experts who have given [the Real Food Coalition] data from other campaigns they have worked on at other schools."

According to data Grande said he has been looking at from the University of Minnesota and the University of California, Irvine, their meal plans increased by about $5 when they switched to just cage-free eggs.

Acheampong said that he would report the results of the survey to Dining Services.

When asked if he thought the University would make the switch, Acheampong said that he thinks it is "important for the University to acknowledge what the students want, and [the fact that] 877 students participated was great."

"This is Brandeis, people really care, and they are passionate," Acheampong said.





-Alana Abramson contributed reporting.