Who are we?

Here at VERA, the Vegan & Rights for Animals Society, we believe all animals deserve compassion and respect. We are here to advocate for the vegan lifestyle, connect likeminded people and empower everyone to help make the planet a better place for the beings we share it with. We welcome people of all backgrounds and current lifestyles who are interested in the vegan philosophy.

We do use the total liberation framework as a guide during outreach, planning events, and more. As a society we strive to be intersectional in our approach always. Highlighting animal autonamy and collective justice is our main goal and the philosophy that we carry with us throughout our activism and outreach. 

What do we do?

Plant-Based Universities Campaign:

Our society is here to campaign on behalf of animals, and veganism itself on and outwith campus. We have already had a great success with the passing of the Plant-Based Commitment Motion (can be found on the Student Union website) and our overall collaboration with the national Plant-Based Universities campaign; the campaign urges Universities to act on the best avaliable science and adopt a plant-based catering system. At VERA we believe that our University should reflect the values that most of us already hold dear - values like equality, justice and solidarity with one another; we also believe that a plant-based catering system maximises equality for both human and non-human animals.

Plant-Based Community Pantry:

We also launched a fully plant-based pantry - the pantry includes staples like oats, cereals, tinned vegetables and legumes, UHT plant milks, teabags, as well as other versatile items. We aim to deploy these pantry items near the union as often as we can, however we are currently looking to secure more funding in order to make the pantry a more frequent occurance, as community and solidarity are core values of our society. We are working as hard as we can to provide an accessible means of aquiring plant-based foods on campus, and to be there for those already plant-based/vegan or transitioning away from animals as food.

How can I get involved?

We are always completely open to new members and people to attend our meetings, so free to come along (even if you're not vegan, and are just curious about veganism as an ethical stance - we don't bite, and we always strive to approach others with an open, but educational stance.)

We understand that a social justice perspective encompassing non-human animals may be confusing and jarring at first (due to societal inclination for anthropocentrism) and we were all non-vegans once, so feel free to wander along whenever we are hosting events.

We are most active on Instagram, where we often announce events or activism opportunities far ahead of time. To stay up to date with us, our meeting locations and events, follow @stir.vera on Instagram. 

Stay tuned for activism opportunities, movie screenings, outreach and more!