The Animal Rights Club, a new NEIU student group, is maintaining their momentum, as evidenced by their second bake sale and fundraiser held on Nov. 19, 2008 in Village Square.
For sale or donation were healthful vegetarian samosas from the Indian Student Association, taffy apples donated from the Anthropos club, and “Fair Trade” chocolate bars and delicious apples from Whole Foods (Sauganash). According to Regina Torres, president of the Animal Rights Club, “Whole Foods donated the items for the bake sale because the Animal Rights Club is environmentally friendly, promotes the vegan diet, and represents health and diet issues.” Torres explained the inclusion of the items from the other student groups by stating that she was simply “working together with other groups to expand on resources for the bake sale and fund raiser.”
Torres stated that the group will donate a portion of their proceeds to a group called ARC, which is Chicago’s Treehouse Foundation. Chicago’s Treehouse Foundation is a “no kill” shelter specializing in the rehabilitation of sick, injured, abused and stray cats. Torres stated that the shelter “does not believe in euthanization.”
When questioned about her dietary choice to be a vegetarian, Torres stated that “…ever since a child, I was more prone to eating vegetables than meat,” and that she “became a vegetarian during adolescence.” Also, she stated that as a chef she “saw a lot of disturbing things with meat.”
Torres also was honest to admit that she took a one year break from vegetarianism due to the “culture and environment of a boyfriend.” Also, she honestly stated that for her, vegetarianism wasn’t an overnight choice. She stated that she had to consider what makes her happy, what makes her feel good. Presently, she is paying attention to ways to improve her diet and lifestyle choice of being a vegetarian. She stated that being a vegetarian includes clothing choices and using shampoos that don’t test on animals.
When asked why she formed the Animals Rights Club, she stated that she “wanted to do something about animals beyond just caring about them, and there wasn’t a student group at NEIU that addressed this.”
Also, I spoke with the club co- founder, known as Charlie. Charlie became a vegetarian two-and-a-half years ago after he “realized there’s no difference between killing animals and people, ethically, it’s the same.” He stated that his two main reasons for wanting to co- found the club was that he was already interested in animal rights and that he wanted a club like this to exist on campus.
Charlie wants people to be logically consistent, meaning that people who think that they are good people should apply their goodness to animals too.
Charlie has strong philosophical beliefs about vegetarianism and how the diet relates to people and their choices. Charlie stated that he doesn’t argue with people who believe in cruelty to animals and people and that people who believe in cruelty to animals should not be allowed to hold prominent positions in major corporations. “It’s a matter of ethics,” according to Charlie. Charlie plans to write a book about the vegetarian diet and to explain his other views.
If you would like to meet two fun and interesting people, attend an Animal Rights Club meeting. Introduce yourself to Torres or “Charlie,” but don’t ask them if they want to go with you to have a burger. For Feb. 2009, the group is planning an event with the Green Cycle Group, an environmentally conscious campus group.