UWO welcomes Wis-go Vegans
October 18, 2018
The UW Oshkosh Student Association voted in a new student organization, Wis-go Vegans, during its senate meeting on Tuesday.
Wis-go Vegans is an on-campus organization with the goal of creating a community for people interested in talking about their experience and advice as a vegan.
President of Wis-go Vegans, Noelle Fenwick, said there was no other plant-based organization on campus before Wis-go.
“In the summer, I went vegan,” Fenwick said. “Coming back to campus I was kind of worried about falling back into temptation, going back to the land of meat and cheese, so I just kind of did it to create a community of support, engagement, that kind of thing.”
Fenwick said she has been a vegetarian since her first semester at UWO.
“I have an ethics professor, Professor Williams, who is vegetarian all the time and vegan most of the time, and he did a lecture of the ethics of eating animals and it just clicked and I was like ‘Woah, what am I doing?’” Fenwick said.
OSA Vice President Pro-Tempore, Allie Chen, said she voted in favor of Wis-go Vegans because of her own experience as a vegetarian.
Chen said it’s common to hear negative feedback about being vegetarian.
“Sometimes it is just nice to be around people who think alike, and if you have a club for that, that’s your community right there,” she said.
Fenwick said the organization is growing rapidly.
“We have gotten 20 members just within the first month of school of me advertising,” Fenwick said.
OSA Senator Colin Daniels said he did some of his own research about vegans and watched some documentaries, which ultimately made him want to vote in favor for the new organization.
“It’s definitely a good initiative, especially creating a healthier campus and creating some awareness about it.”