Thousands of students at one of Britain’s top universities will be forced to ‘go vegan’ after activists won a vote banning meat and dairy products.
Students at the University of Warwick backed a motion forcing union-run catering outlets to adopt plant-based menus, with three now required to do so by 2027.
But the move, pushed through by campaign group ‘Plant-Based Universities’, has ignited fury after it emerged that just 774 students – about 2.7 per cent of 28,600-stong campus – were behind the plan, while 516 voted against it.
Vivek Venkatram, Plant-Based Universities Warwick campaigner and president of Warwick’s Vegetarian and Vegan Society championed the vote and said: ‘We want this change to benefit everyone.’
However, the Countryside Alliance condemned the decision backed by a ‘tiny minority’ and said the vote raised questions about whether the sweeping change was ‘made with the interests of the wider student population in mind’.
Vivek Venkatram (pictured), Plant-Based Universities Warwick campaigner and president of Warwick’s Vegetarian and Vegan Society championed the decision
Students at the University of Warwick backed a motion forcing union-run catering outlets to go vegan (pictured are some of the campaigners at the university)
‘Students shouldn’t let such a small cohort get away with isolating the wider student population. Vegan campaigners are welcome to present their arguments in favour of plant-based diets, but should not impose a diet in university-affiliated buildings,’ said alliance spokeswoman Sabina Roberts.
‘Students should take on their democratic duty and place forward a counter-motion that keeps meat on the menu.’
The move was also condemned on social media, with one person tweeting: ‘Will this nonsense ever stop? The vocal minority at it again.’
While another added: ‘Veganism is as extreme as all extremist religious movements. It’s either their way or no way. I feel sorry for the kids.’
Warwick’s students’ union is the eighth in the UK to vote through a motion to ditch meat and dairy, as part of a campaign pushing for more sustainable catering in higher education.
A total of 1,472 students voted in the motion, titled ‘plant-based Warwick to tackle the climate crisis: for a just transition’, with 52 per cent backing the change.
The union will now adopt 50 per cent plant-based catering by the next academic year, and students hope to also influence externally-run outlets on the Coventry campus.
A spokesman for Plant-Based Universities told that the vote was limited to outlets run by Warwick’s Students’ Union. They added students were ‘not prohibited or banned from bringing their own food, including meat and dairy, to the university’.
Food awareness organisation ProVeg UK said Warwick’s move was a ‘huge stride in the right direction’ made by young people ‘taking responsibility through their food choices’.
‘It’s a movement that is gathering pace fast across the education sector, not just universities but schools too, and it’s a privilege to support it,’ added director Jimmy Pierson.
Last November saw the University of Stirling’s student union voting to go vegan becoming the first in the UK to back such a move.
Warwick one of 24 members of the elite Russell Group of British universities (file photo)
But in April, students at the University of Edinburgh rejected a call for union venues to go vegan.
A similar vote to ban meat from campus menus was held among Edinburgh University students in 2020, with 58 per cent of the 6,000 students that voted saying they were against the motion.
In 2019, the University of East Anglia voted to overturn a previous decision to switch to all-vegan catering at its SU outlets after a vote was held by its wider student body.
Last week, students at Cardiff University voted to reject a motion that would have seen all union catering outlets go 100 per cent plant-based by the 2026-27 academic year.
has approached the University of Warwick Student Union for comment.