We worked hard this semester to encourage the University of Minnesota to incorporate more vegetarian and vegan options in their residential hall food service, and we won! Starting in the spring semester of 2012, Pioneer Hall will offer an all-vegetarian lunch on Mondays.

Compassionate Action for Animals collected 300 petition signatures asking to implement an all-vegetarian meal once per week. We then met with University Dining Services (UDS) and presented the petitions — they agreed! See Fox9's article about Meatless Monday.

We're pleased that UDS has taken this bold step. It will help thousands of animals that will not be exploited and killed for food, and it will also raise awareness about vegetarian dining options.

What you can do:

• If you are a University student and have a meal plan, eat lunch on Monday at Pioneers and try their vegetarian meal!
• Please give UDS positive feedback so that they will continue to offer Meatless Monday. We know that critics will be contacting UDS, so UDS needs to hear from you, too! You can call them at 612-626-7626, email them at dining@umn.edu, or thank them on their Facebook page.
• If you are not a student, you can contact your favorite restaurant, your company's food service provider, or your school's dining services and ask them to participate in Meatless Monday.

Thanks to UDS for making this happen! We will be working next semester to let students know about this new option.