Haverford College's Dining Services currently buys eggs from "battery cage" egg farms - massive warehouses where hens are confined to cages so small they cannot spread their wings and can barely turn around. They often live among the feces and waste of other birds, and their feathers are torn off from constantly rubbing against the cage bars. Organizations like the Center for Food Safety support a switch to cage-free eggs because battery cage eggs are much more likely to be contaminated with salmonella.

Battery cages are so cruel they have been banned as criminal animal cruelty in several states and 27 countries. Battery cage farms have also been condemned as unsustainable by environmental organizations like the Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council because of their serious impact on air and water quality. And labor groups like the United Farm Workers and National Black Farmers Association urge a switch to cage-free because battery cage farms present terrible working conditions for farm laborers.

80% of college students in the greater Philadelphia area are already being servied by cage-free eggs, as nearly all area schools have already gone cage-free - including Penn, Drexel, Temple, Ursinus, Villanova, LaSalle, Immaculata, Cabrini, Gwynedd Mercy, U-Arts, Philadelphia Communtiy College, West Chester, Rowan, Rosemont, Chestnut Hill and others. Sadly, Haverford now even trails behind Walmart on this important sustainability issue.

Over 600 students and faculty have already signed the petition asking Dining for a switch to cage-free eggs. Please sign the petition to add your voice to those asking Haverford's Dining Services to go cage-free!