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Allen Haycock, makes scrambled eggs during new student orientation at the Livingston Dining Commons at Rutgers University in Piscataway. At the request of students, Rutgers University is becoming one of the largest colleges in the nation to switch over to cage-free eggs.

(Patti Sapone/ The Star-Ledger)

NEW BRUNSWICK — For three years, Rutgers University students held meetings, signed petitions and met with campus officials as they passionately advocated for their cause.

But the determined students were not pushing for lower tuition, gay rights or any of the other political causes popular on college campuses.

Their mission: Better eggs in the dining hall.

This summer, Rutgers University became one of the largest colleges in the nation to transition all of its dining halls to cage-free eggs. Students pushed for the switch because, they say, purchasing the costlier eggs — which come from farms that allow hens to roam free — is more humane than using eggs from chickens forced to live in cramped cages.

The change means that students on all Rutgers campuses will pay $10 to $15 more for their meal plans this year, whether they eat eggs or not, university officials said.

"There are a lot of things you can do with your life to help animals — volunteering or adopting a pet from a shelter. But not too many people are working on welfare for farm animals. They are the largest population of animals currently in need of help in the U.S.," said Constance Li, a member of Rutgers United for the Welfare of Animals, a student group that helped organize the campaign.

The cage-free movement has been growing on college campuses across the nation, where student groups are pressuring their schools to make the change. Harvard, Princeton, the University of Florida and the University of California at Los Angeles are among about 100 campuses that have gone cage-free, according to animal rights groups.

Persuading Rutgers, which has one of the largest dining hall operations in the nation, to go 100 percent cage-free is considered a major coup for the movement. Rutgers purchases more than 1 million eggs and 150,000 pounds of liquid eggs each year, school officials said.

The Humane League, a nonprofit animal rights group that helps students organize cage-free campaigns, "had our eye on Rutgers just based on its size," said David Coman-Hidy, the organization’s director.

Animal rights groups say the battery cages that hold egg-laying hens are often smaller than a sheet of paper and prevent the birds from spreading their wings or nesting.

Though none of the animal rights groups are arguing cage-free eggs taste any better, they say the eggs are better for the environment and less cruel than standard eggs.

The United Egg Producers, a national industry group, says if all farms went cage-free, the price of eggs would rise significantly. Less than 6 percent of the egg-laying U.S. flock is cage-free, the group said.

Jessica Nuzzo, 18, left and Michelle Wilderotter, 18, are served eggs during student orientation at the Livingston Dining Commons at Rutgers University in Piscataway. At the request of students, Rutgers University is becoming one of the largest colleges in the nation to switch over to cage-free eggs.

Li, the recent Rutgers graduate who helped organize her campus campaign, said it was a three-year "struggle" to get the university to agree to buy cage-free eggs. It began with gathering 3,000 signatures on a petition and getting an egg question on the ballot during a student government election.

The referendum was approved by 60 percent of voters, Li said. Since it didn’t target the group it would mostly impact, Li said her organization had to get another egg referendum on the next ballot that only surveyed meal-plan holders.

That question passed overwhelmingly, with 99 percent of voters with meal plans saying they were willing to pay more for cage-free eggs. That meant students, not the university, would bear the cost of switching to cage-free eggs.

"The dining hall didn’t have to divert finances from operations," Li said.

Last month, the Rutgers board of governors voted to move to cage-free eggs when it approved the university’s student fee hikes.

Students living on campus will pay between $3,686 and $4,976 for their meal plans this year, which includes the $10 to $15 increase for the costlier eggs.

Rutgers has 65,000 students, including approximately 17,800 who live on campus. However, not all students who live on campus have meal plans because some live in private apartments.

"The students involved worked diligently to document the benefits of the cage-free option and to demonstrate that their fellow students supported this choice, so we were pleased to support that plan," said Nancy Winterbauer, Rutgers’ vice president for university budgeting.

While college students are waging campus campaigns, the transition to cage-free eggs is also happening at hospitals and local businesses, said Kathleen Schatzmann, New Jersey director of the Humane Society of the United States, a nonprofit animal rights organization.

"I think a lot of people are becoming animal-welfare aware as consumers want to eat local or healthy," Schatzmann said.

Coman-Hidy, director of the Humane League, credits college students with getting their schools to pay closer attention to the source of the food they buy.

"Even with a huge school or giant company, a few people with clipboards and the right attitude can certainly make a change," Coman-Hidy said.



Staff writer Kelly Heyboer contributed to this report.

Staff writer Kelly Heyboer contributed to this report.

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